The country’s main pharmaceutical lobbying group has hired departing Republican Congressman Billy Tauzin as its new chief with an annual salary of around $2 million. Up until February the Louisiana politician served as chairman of the House committee with jurisdiction over drug-industry issues. He was the principal author of the new Medicare drug law which was strongly backed by the pharmeceutical industry. In other lobbying news, former Republican Congressman James Greenwood of Pennsylvania is soon to become the head of the Biotechnology Industry Organization. Greenwood is the former head of the Energy and Commerce investigative subcommittee.