R&D spending by members of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) increased 4.9% last year to an estimated $50,253.6 million. Domestic R&D spending rose 5.0% to $38,437.8 million and foreign R&D climbed 4.7% to $11,825.7 million. As a percentage of sales, R&D expenditures totaled 17.4%, compared to 17.5% in 2007. In 2007, PhRMA companies’ R&D spending grew 11.5% to $47,903.1 million, with domestic R&D representing 75.5% of R&D spending. Licensed-in products accounted for 17.2% of domestic R&D expenditures in 2007. By function, prehuman/preclinical, phase 1, phase 2, phase 3, approval and phase 4 accounted for 27.3%, 7.4%, 13.0%, 28.5%, 5.0%, 13.4% and 5.2% of R&D spending by PhRMA members, respectively, in 2007. Biologic R&D spending totaled $12,127.4 million in 2007, with biotech-derived therapeutic proteins, vaccines, cell or gene therapy, and other biologics representing 21.0%, 2.4%, 0.2% and 1.7% of R&D spending. The R&D staffs for PhRMA-member companies totaled 85,870 in 2007. Prehuman/preclinical staff accounted for 31.1% of R&D staffing, phase 3 staff represented 19.3% and phase 4 staff accounted for 13.8%.

Source: PhRMA