PhRMA Members Spend Record Amount on R&D in 2004

PhRMA member companies invested a record $38.8 billion in pharmaceutical R&D in 2004, an increase of nearly 13 percent from the previous year, according to the association's annual membership survey.

The vast majority of R&D expenditures by PhRMA members occurred in the U.S., with companies spending $30.6 billion domestically, compared to roughly $8.2 billion abroad. Domestic R&D expenditures increased by approximately 13.2 percent from 2003, while foreign spending rose 10.3 percent compared to the previous year. PhRMA's domestic R&D numbers include expenditures within the U.S. by all member companies. The R&D abroad figures include international R&D spending by U.S. owned firms and R&D conducted abroad by U.S. divisions of foreign-owned PhRMA members.

When factoring in R&D conducted by American biotechnology firms that are not PhRMA members, an estimated $49.3 billion was invested in biopharmaceutical research in 2004, the association said.

For more information, go to http://www.phrma.org/publications/publications/17.03.2005.1142.cfm (http://www.phrma.org/publications/publications/17.03.2005.1142.cfm).