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Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America

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Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America
AbbreviationPhRMA
Formation1958
PurposeTrade association
Lobbying
HeadquartersWashington, D.C., U.S.
Board Chair
Daniel O'Day
Board Chair Elect
Albert Bourla, DVM, Ph.D
President
Stephen J. Ubl
WebsiteOfficial website
Formerly called
Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA, pronounced /ˈfɑrmə/), formerly known as the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association,[1] is a trade group representing companies in the pharmaceutical industry in the United States. Founded in 1958, PhRMA lobbies on behalf of pharmaceutical companies.[2][3] PhRMA is headquartered in Washington, D.C.[1]

The organization has lobbied fiercely against allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices for Medicare recipients,[4] and filed lawsuits against the drug price provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act.[5] At the state level, the organization has lobbied to prevent price limits and greater price transparency for drugs.[6] The organization claims that higher prices incentivize research and development, even though pharmaceutical spending on marketing exceeds that spent on research,[7] including off-label promotion that has resulted in settlements in the billions of dollars.[8]

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.[9]

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.[10][11] 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.[12][13]

Membership

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Leadership

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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.[14]

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,[15] Billy Tauzin, a former Republican congressman from Louisiana, and John J. Horan, former CEO and chairman of Merck & Co.[16][17][18][19]

Members

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Current member companies include Alkermes, Amgen, Astellas Pharma, 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.[20][21][22][23]

Programs

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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.[24]

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.[24] 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.[25]

The company has advocated abroad in South Africa regarding pharmaceutical drug intellectual property rules.[26]

In 2017, the organization had revenue of $455 million, $128 million of which was spent on lobbying activities.[27]

The organization has notably opposed market pricing strategies of Valeant Pharmaceuticals, deriding the firm as having a strategy "reflective of a hedge fund".[28]

In January 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.[29][27]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America". National Health Council. November 4, 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
  2. ^ The Editorial Board (November 27, 2015). "Turn the Volume Down on Drug Ads". New York Times. Retrieved November 27, 2015.
  3. ^ "Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America". C-SPAN. Archived from the original on April 6, 2022. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
  4. ^ "PhRMA Warns of Dire Consequences if Medicare Allowed to Negotiate Drug Prices". www.medpagetoday.com. September 8, 2021. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
  5. ^ "How Big Pharma is fighting Biden's program to lower seniors' drug costs". The Washington Post. March 11, 2024. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  6. ^ Hancock, Jay (December 18, 2017). "In Election Year, Drug Industry Spent Big To Temper Talk About High Drug Prices". NPR. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
  7. ^ Brezis M (2008). "Big pharma and health care: unsolvable conflict of interests between private enterprise and public health". Isr J Psychiatry Relat Sci. 45 (2): 83–9, discussion 90–4. PMID 18982834.
  8. ^ Almashat S, Preston C, Waterman T, Wolfe S, et al. (Public Citizen's Health Research Group) (December 2010). "Rapidly increasing criminal and civil monetary penalties against the pharmaceutical industry: 1991 to 2010" (PDF).
  9. ^ Hancock, Jay (July 27, 2018). "The Stealth Campaign to Kill Off Obamacare". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
  10. ^ Timmermann, Cristian; Henk van den Belt (2013). "Intellectual property and global health: from corporate social responsibility to the access to knowledge movement". Liverpool Law Review. 34 (1): 47–73. doi:10.1007/s10991-013-9129-9. S2CID 145492036. Archived from the original on June 23, 2020. Retrieved October 31, 2020.
  11. ^ Morin, Jean-Frederic (2011). "The Life-Cycle of Transnational Issues: Lessons from the Access to Medicines Controversy" (PDF). Global Society. 25 (2): 227–247. doi:10.1080/13600826.2011.553914. S2CID 216592972. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 6, 2018.
  12. ^ Allison, Simon (January 30, 2021). "Bill Gates, Big Pharma and entrenching the vaccine apartheid". The Mail & Guardian. Retrieved January 2, 2022.
  13. ^ "MSF: TRIPS waiver must be urgently adopted despite WTO Ministerial Conference postponement". Doctors Without Borders - USA.
  14. ^ "About". phrma.org. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
  15. ^ whorunsgov.com Archived January 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ N.C. Alzenman and Dan Eggen (July 14, 2010). "Pharmaceutical group shifts tone with new pick for president". The Washington Post.
  17. ^ Judy Sarasohn (December 16, 2004). "Special Interests: Tauzin to Head Drug Trade Group". The Washington Post. p. A35.
  18. ^ Julian Pecquet (July 14, 2010). "PhRMA picks new president". The Hill. Vol. 17, no. 81. p. 22.
  19. ^ Segal, David (January 28, 2011). "John Horan, Former Chief of Merck, Dies at 90". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 28, 2022.
  20. ^ Fick, Maggie (May 16, 2023). "AstraZeneca to leave leading U.S. drug lobby group". Reuters. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
  21. ^ "About". PhRMA. Archived from the original on April 6, 2022. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
  22. ^ Payne, Daniel; Mahr, Krista (December 15, 2022). "AbbVie exits the lobby". POLITICO. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
  23. ^ "After AbbVie's exodus, Teva walks away from influential trade group PhRMA". Fierce Pharma. February 3, 2023. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
  24. ^ a b "Patient Resources". Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. Archived from the original on March 19, 2011. Retrieved April 6, 2011.
  25. ^ "Marathon gets the Shkreli treatment from industry after $89K drug dust up". Ars Technica. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
  26. ^ "Leaky pharma". The Economist. Retrieved February 12, 2018.
  27. ^ a b Kanski, Alison (November 26, 2018). "PhRMA spent nearly 10 times 2016's sum on advertising last year".
  28. ^ "High price tags for medicines are about to come under renewed pressure". The Economist. Retrieved February 12, 2018.
  29. ^ Campbell, Holly (January 24, 2018). "PhRMA launches new consumer-facing Let's Talk About Cost website".
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