Charles M. Clapton, a veteran Capitol Hill health aide who’s spent the last year at Hogan Lovells, is heading to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America as senior vice president, federal advocacy, the trade group announced Tuesday.  

Clapton, who starts at PhRMA on March 17, made his bones as, among many positions over more than a decade and a half on the Hill, health policy director for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and chief health counsel for the House Ways and Means Committee.  He also put in time at the House Energy and Commerce Committee, was briefly an adviser for then-Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and got his start as a legislative assistant for the Senate Judiciary Committee. Clapton will report to Chip Davis, PhRMA’s executive vice president for advocacy and member relations.  

“Chuck is a dynamic advocate and an expert on the policy issues facing the biopharmaceutical sector and the patients we serve,” John J. Castellani, president and CEO of PhRMA, said in a statement announcing the hire.