Drug R&D spending surges in sinking economy

The U.S. economy may have fallen off a cliff last year, but drug R&D spending continued to surge upwards. A new survey on R&D reveals that research spending by U.S. biopharma companies jumped to $65.2 billion last year, an increase of $2 billion over the year before, according to analysis by Burrill & Co. and PhRMA.

PhRMA put its usual spin on the economic development numbers, citing the jobs and investments devoted to the search for a cure to what ails us. In a separate study, PhRMA found 686,000 direct employees of the sector engaged in life, physical or social sciences research in 2006.

"Our research indicates that the biopharmaceutical sector has made a substantial contribution to U.S. economic growth, and that on average, this sector contributed more to GDP on a per employee basis and grew faster than the rest of the economy from 1996 to 2006," said Michael Eckstut of Archstone Consulting.