The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America is the pharmaceutical industry's trade organization. PhRMA topped the list of pharmaceutical lobbying spending, shelling out $74 million since 1998. Its members include 16 of the industry's 20 largest companies and their subsidiaries including Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., AstraZeneca Plc, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc., Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Wyeth, Bayer Corporation, Merck & Co. Inc., Schering-Plough Corp., GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Amgen Inc, Abbott Laboratories, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer Inc., Eli Lilly and Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., and sanofi-aventis. Eisai Co. Ltd. and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., two more of the top 20, are international affiliates.
PhRMA supports direct-to-consumer advertising and strong patent regulations, opposes drug importation and price controls, and supported the Medicare reform signed into law last year.
PhRMA's president is Billy Tauzin, a former Republican congressman from Louisiana.