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Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America

Trade group

Field	Value
name	Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America
logo	PhRMA logo.svg
abbreviation	PhRMA
formation	1958
purpose	Trade association
Lobbying
headquarters	Washington, D.C., U.S.
leader_title	Board Chair
leader_name	Daniel O'Day
leader_title2	Board Chair Elect
leader_name2	Albert Bourla, DVM, Ph.D
leader_title3	President
leader_name3	Stephen J. Ubl
website	Official website
formerly	Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association

Lobbying Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA, pronounced ), 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.

References

(2014-11-04). "Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America". National Health Council.
The Editorial Board. (November 27, 2015). "Turn the Volume Down on Drug Ads". [[New York Times]].
"Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America".
(2021-09-08). "PhRMA Warns of Dire Consequences if Medicare Allowed to Negotiate Drug Prices".
(March 11, 2024). "How Big Pharma is fighting Biden's program to lower seniors' drug costs". The Washington Post.
Hancock, Jay. (2017-12-18). "In Election Year, Drug Industry Spent Big To Temper Talk About High Drug Prices". NPR.
(2008). "Big pharma and health care: unsolvable conflict of interests between private enterprise and public health". Isr J Psychiatry Relat Sci.
(December 2010). "Rapidly increasing criminal and civil monetary penalties against the pharmaceutical industry: 1991 to 2010.".
Hancock, Jay. (2018-07-27). "The Stealth Campaign to Kill Off Obamacare". The New York Times.
(2013). "Intellectual property and global health: from corporate social responsibility to the access to knowledge movement". Liverpool Law Review.
Morin, Jean-Frederic. (2011). "The Life-Cycle of Transnational Issues: Lessons from the Access to Medicines Controversy". Global Society.
(30 January 2021). "Bill Gates, Big Pharma and entrenching the vaccine apartheid". The Mail & Guardian.
"MSF: TRIPS waiver must be urgently adopted despite WTO Ministerial Conference postponement".
"About".
[http://www.whorunsgov.com/Profiles/John_Castellani whorunsgov.com] {{webarchive. link. (January 27, 2011)
N.C. Alzenman and Dan Eggen. (July 14, 2010). "Pharmaceutical group shifts tone with new pick for president". The Washington Post.
Judy Sarasohn. (December 16, 2004). "Special Interests: Tauzin to Head Drug Trade Group". The Washington Post.
Julian Pecquet. (July 14, 2010). "PhRMA picks new president". The Hill.
Segal, David. (2011-01-28). "John Horan, Former Chief of Merck, Dies at 90". The New York Times.
Fick, Maggie. (2023-05-16). "AstraZeneca to leave leading U.S. drug lobby group". Reuters.
"About".
(December 15, 2022). "AbbVie exits the lobby".
(2023-02-03). "After AbbVie's exodus, Teva walks away from influential trade group PhRMA". Fierce Pharma.
Dunleavy, Kevin. (2025-04-22). "AstraZeneca returns to industry association PhRMA".
"Patient Resources". Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
"Marathon gets the Shkreli treatment from industry after $89K drug dust up". Ars Technica.
"Leaky pharma". The Economist.
Kanski, Alison. (November 26, 2018). "PhRMA spent nearly 10 times 2016's sum on advertising last year".
"High price tags for medicines are about to come under renewed pressure". The Economist.
Campbell, Holly. (January 24, 2018). "PhRMA launches new consumer-facing Let's Talk About Cost website".
(September 29, 2025). "US lobby group PhRMA plans website to boost access to cheaper drugs".
"PhRMA launches discount drug website ahead of Trump deadline".

Info: Wikipedia Source

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