Dear Colleague,

Within the dynamic political environment surrounding health policy, it is becoming more important for pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device and healthcare companies to play a larger role in state and federal government legislation in order to have an impact on issues and policies that may effect their organizations. Pharmaceutical and healthcare lobbying efforts topped $123 million in 2004 with an average increase of 10% each year. Almost every major pharmaceutical and healthcare company in the US has been growing their government relations and public affairs teams as a result. With the amount of time, energy, money and resources devoted to this area, there is stronger need for these organizations to establish best practices, form effective partnerships and learn new tactics to have an impact on legislation that is impacting their products and the industry as a whole.