Medtronic Spends $1 Million in Health Lobbying

The AP says that the company lobbied on the health care reform bills, particularly in comparative effectiveness discussions.

It also lobbied on efforts in the House to make it easier for patients to sue medical device companies via personal injury lawsuits.The medical device industry has argued that overriding the decision would allow state courts to second-guess government medical experts at FDA.Medtronic lobbyists also advocated their position on a bill aimed at updating the U.S. patent system. The pharmaceutical and medical device industries have argued that reform efforts must not weaken patent protections on medical products by reducing infringement penalties. The reform effort has largely stalled in Congress.And finally, Medtronic  lobbied on legislation that would increase the regulation of medical devices manufactured in foreign countries by charging additional user fees for FDA inspections, according to a form filed July 20 with the House clerk's office.