In 2015, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) members invested an estimated $58.8 billion into biopharmaceutical R&D, a 10.3% increase from 2014. Last year, domestic R&D costs were 25% of domestic sales, an 8.8% increase to $40.5 billion, while total R&D costs were 20% of total sales, a 6.5% increase to $52.8 billion. In 2014, Phase III R&D made up 29% of R&D expenditures, with Pre-Human/Pre-Clinical, Phase IV and Phase II following at 21%, 17% and 11%, respectively. The US leads expenditures, with $40.7 billion spent on R&D, 77% of total spending, followed by the UK at 5%, Japan at 1.7% and Germany at 1.5%. As of the release date of PhRMA’s report, 7,000 medicines are under development, with 450 medicines being developed for treating rare diseases. The report states that only 2 out of 10 drugs that are marketed have a return on investment that matches or exceeds R&D costs. Since 2015, 56 new medicines have been approved, which is the highest number of approved medicines in almost 20 years.

Source: PhRMA