FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 15, 1997
Contact: Jeff Trewhitt
(202) 835-3469
DRUG INDUSTRY WILL SPEND RECORD AMOUNT ON R&D THIS YEAR, SURVEY SHOWS; PhRMA ANNOUNCES WORLDWIDE ADVOCACY AGENDA FOR 1997
Washington, D.C. -- Research-based pharmaceutical companies will invest a record $18.9 billion in research and development in 1997, an increase of 11.5 percent from 1996, a new PhRMA survey shows.
About $15 billion of this year's $18.9 billion investment will be spent in the U.S. Over the past 20 years, the share of pharmaceutical company revenues devoted to research and development has nearly doubled -- from 11.1 percent in 1977 to an estimated 21.2 percent in 1997, a record level.
"The industry's ratio of R&D to sales dwarfs those of other major industries," Bristol-Myers Squibb CEO and PhRMA Chairman Charles A. Heimbold, Jr., said today. "In fact, the average for all industries is just under 4 percent."
Heimbold emphasized that the U.S. pharmaceutical industry is the most innovative drug industry in the world. "It is clear," he said, "that countries everywhere look to the United States and its pharmaceutical industry to discover many of the new drugs and do much of the significant research for new medicines. The number of major drugs developed in the U.S. over the past several decades is far greater than the number for any other country.
"The industry's R&D commitment will mean that . . . people around the world will benefit and will be able to lead longer, healthier, happier, and more productive lives," Heimbold said. "It is gratifying to learn that the record investment in innovation we are making this year comes on the heels of yet another record: the research-based U.S. pharmaceutical industry brought 53 medicines to U.S. patients in 1996, providing important treatments for more than 40 diseases affecting tens of millions of people in the U.S."
One of the new medicines approved last year was AccolateÆ, the first in a new class of drugs for asthma. The new drug was researched and developed over a 17-year period by a team of 25 scientists at Zeneca Pharmaceuticals.
Fred Brown, Associate Director for Biomedical Research at Zeneca, a speaker at today's briefing, said, "Accolate represents the first new approach to asthma in 20 years.
"With the scientific knowledge gained from the Accolate project and more hard work by many people, we hope to discover new medicines that will further improve the lives of people with asthma."
Research and development spending by the pharmaceutical industry has increased every year since 1970 when research expenditures totaled $618.5 million. Year-to-year increases have ranged from 5.6 percent to more than 20 percent.
PhRMA Chairman-Elect Sidney Taurel, the President and Chief Operating Officer of Eli Lilly and Company, also spoke at today's PhRMA press briefing. He outlined strategic goals that aim at fostering globally an environment which nurtures innovation. These goals include:
-- Regulatory reform to get safe drugs to patients sooner.
-- Strengthening of intellectual property protection in the U.S. and abroad.
-- The promotion of trade, open markets and free market principles.
-- Ensuring access to quality, cost-effective pharmaceutical care.
"We look forward to working in a partnership with the Clinton Administration, both sides of the aisle in Congress, leaders in the 50 states and governments around the globe -- as well as with payors and providers -- to achieve these objectives," Taurel said.
The new PhRMA survey, "New Drug Approvals in 1996," shows that last year's approvals included:
-- A new class of drugs for asthma.
-- A new medicine for schizophrenia.
-- Two new protease inhibitors to fight HIV and AIDS, as well as a drug to fight a leading cause of blindness in AIDS patients.
-- Seven orphan drugs for rare diseases, and five for cancer.
-- The first new insulin product in 14 years.
Heimbold stressed that the availability of important new medicines depends not only on R&D investments by industry, but also on "the actions that the government takes today and tomorrow."
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PhRMA's top legislative priority in the new Congress is improvement of the FDA, both through renewal of the user fee law and enactment of FDA modernization legislation to achieve structural improvements in the agency.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) represents the country's leading research-based pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, which are devoted to inventing medicines that allow patients to lead longer, healthier, happier and more productive lives. Investing nearly $19 billion a year in discovering and developing new medicines, PhRMA companies are the source of more than 9 out of 10 new prescription drugs used in the United States.
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PhRMA Internet Address: http://www.phrma.org
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