Research

America’s biopharmaceutical research companies are devoted to the discovery and development of medicines that allow patients to live longer, healthier and more productive lives. PhRMA companies are leading the way in the search for new cures. PhRMA members alone invested an estimated $45.8 billion in research and development in 2009, with roughly 70 percent of that investment made in the United States. Industry-wide research and investment reached a record $65.3 billion.

U.S. biopharmaceutical companies’ focus on research has been observed by many independent experts. For instance, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has said: “The pharmaceutical industry is one of the most research-intensive industries in the United States. Pharmaceutical firms invest as much as five times more in research and development, relative to their sales, than the average U.S. manufacturing firm.”

In fact, the biopharmaceutical sector invests roughly eight times the published estimates of R&D spending per employee in all manufacturing industries.

This commitment to R&D helps to save and improve lives of patients around the world, promote American jobs and strengthen the U.S. economy.