science

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America rather than just read about it. In short: Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA, pronounced /ˈfɑrmə/), formerly known as the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, is an American trade group representing companies in the pharmaceutical industry. Founded in 1958, PhRMA lobbies on behalf of pharmaceutical companies.

Key takeaways

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA, pronounced /ˈfɑrmə/), formerly known as the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, is an American trade group representing companies in the pharmaceutical industry. Founded in 1958, PhRMA lobbies on behalf of pharmaceutical companies. PhRMA is headquartered in Washington, D.C. The organization has lobbied fiercely against allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices for Medicare recipients, and filed lawsuits against the drug price provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act. At the state level, the organization has lobbied to prevent price limits and greater price transparency for drugs. The organization claims that higher prices incentivize research and development, even though pharmaceutical spending on marketing exceeds that spent on research, including off-label promotion that has resulted in settlements in the billions of dollars. PhRMA has given substantial dark money donations to right-wing advocacy groups such as the American Action Network (which lobbied heavily against the Affordable Care Act), Americans for Prosperity, and Americans for Tax Reform. The organization has also lobbied against lowering drug prices internationally. The most visible conflict has been over AIDS drugs in Africa. Despite the role that patents have played in maintaining higher drug costs for public health programs across Africa, the organization worked to minimize the effect of the Doha Declaration, which said that TRIPS should not prevent countries from dealing with public health crises and allowed for compulsory licenses. The organization also opposed a World Trade Organization TRIPS Agreement waiver during the COVID-19 pandemic, which would have reduced the price of COVID-19 vaccines for low-income countries.

Membership

Leadership Daniel O'Day, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Gilead Sciences is chairman of the PhRMA board. Albert Bourla, DVM, PhD, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pfizer, is board chair-elect and Paul Hudson, Chief Executive Officer of Sanofi, is board treasurer. Since 2015, the president of the organization has been Stephen J. Ubl. Previous leadership includes: John J. Castellani, formerly head of the Business Roundtable, a U.S. advocacy and lobbying group, Billy Tauzin, a former Republican congressman from Louisiana, and John J. Horan, former CEO and chairman of Merck & Co.

Members Current member companies include Alkermes, Amgen, Astellas Pharma, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Biogen, BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, CSL Behring, Daiichi Sankyo, Eisai, Eli Lilly and Company, EMD Serono, Genentech, Genmab, Gilead Sciences, GlaxoSmithKline, Incyte, Ipsen, Johnson & Johnson, Lundbeck, Merck & Co., Neurocrine Biosciences, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Otsuka Pharmaceutical, Pfizer, Sage Therapeutics, Sanofi, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, and UCB.

Programs SMARxT Disposal is a joint program run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the American Pharmacists Association, and PhRMA to encourage consumers to properly dispose of unused medicines to avoid harm to the environment. The Partnership for Prescription Assistance is a program by PhRMA and its member companies that connects patients in-need with information on low-cost and free prescription medication. PhRMA has in 2017 raised concerns over price increases for generic drugs out of patent by the company Marathon Pharmaceuticals over Duchenne muscular dystrophy treatment. The company has advocated abroad in South Africa regarding pharmaceutical drug intellectual property rules. In 2017, the organization had revenue of $455 million, $128 million of which was spent on lobbying activities. The organization has notably opposed market pricing strategies of Valeant Pharmaceuticals, deriding the firm as having a strategy "reflective of a hedge fund". In 2018, the organization introduced the "Let's Talk About Cost" website, which made the argument that much of the cost of medication goes to middlemen unassociated with pharmaceutical companies. In September 2025, PhRMA announced plans to launch a new website that would help patients buy prescription drugs directly from manufacturers, bypassing pharmacy benefit managers and reducing costs. Set for launch in January 2026, the website's name is AmericasMedicines.com.

See also Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry Ethics in pharmaceutical sales European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) Generic Pharmaceutical Association International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations (IFPMA) International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association Pharmaceutical Inspection Convention and Pharmaceutical Inspection Co-operation Scheme Pharmaceutical marketing Portuguese Pharmaceutical Industry Association

References

External links Official website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America

In research: Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1958 establishments in Washington, D.C., American organizations established in 1958, Health industry trade groups based in the United States, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America in simple terms?

Why does Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.