PhRMA

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) represents the country’s leading innovative biopharmaceutical research companies, which are devoted to discovering and developing medicines that enable patients to live longer and healthier lives. PhRMA is committed to advancing public policies in the United States and around the world that support innovative medical research, yield progress for patients today and provide hope for the treatments and cures of tomorrow.

The lifeblood of health is research and discovery (R&D). That’s why in 2017 PhRMA adopted a bold new commitment to the R&D of new treatments and cures for patients.

To be eligible for membership in our association, companies must 1. have a three-year average global R&D to global sales ratio of 10% or greater, and 2. have a three-year average global R&D spending of at least $200 million per year

Most PhRMA member companies far exceed this threshold. And America’s biopharmaceutical companies as a whole invested more than $102 billion in R&D in 2018. In fact, the sector reinvests, on average, over 20% of their revenue into the search for new treatments and cures.

No other industry in America comes close to this.

The biopharmaceutical industry’s investment in R&D is nearly three times the entire budget of the National Institutes of Health. And the sector as a whole accounts for more than 17% of all domestic R&D funded by U.S. businesses – far more than other R&D-intensive industry sectors.