The PhRMA's biotechnology and pharmaceutical research member companies invested a record $38.8 billion in research and development on medicines in 2004 (up from $34.5 billion in 2003). This tops a steady increase in R&D over more than two decades, from an estimated investment of $2 billion in 1980, according to a new statistics released by PhRMA.

The growth in R&D continues to support important advances by research scientists and physicians that bring better medical treatments to patients, with a growing focus on biologics. The biopharmaceutical industry is the most research-intensive major industry in the United States and the US greatly exceeds Europe in biopharmaceutical R&D investment.

The $38.8 billion invested in R&D represents a 12.6 per cent increase over expenditures in 2003 and is more than four-and-a-half times the investment in 1990. Of this $38.8 billion, PhRMA member companies spent an estimated $30.6 billion in R&D within the United States, and an estimated $8.2 billion in R&D conducted abroad. PhRMA member companies spent an estimated 18.8 percent of domestic sales on R&D within the United States, the PhRMA release says.

"The US biopharmaceutical industry is found as America's most research-intensive industry and is the world's largest source of investment in discovering better treatments, exceeding the international pharmaceutical industry and the National Institutes of Health. The human and economic cost of disease is too high and new medicines are needed to reduce those costs," said PhRMA president and CEO Billy Tauzin.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) represents the country's leading pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies, which are devoted to inventing medicines that allow patients to live longer, healthier, and more productive lives. PhRMA members invested an estimated $38.8 billion in 2004 in discovering and developing new medicines.