Impact and History
The PhRMA Foundation’s 60th anniversary report provides a brief history and timeline of our work and results from an award recipient survey about their career achievements and the impact of their Foundation award.
Our Impact
Since 1965, the PhRMA Foundation (PhF) has invested in promising researchers and their novel ideas to foster biopharmaceutical innovation and value-driven health care. For 60 years, our grants and fellowships have helped to build and train the scientific workforce, setting the stage for tomorrow’s biomedical breakthroughs that could improve patients’ lives.
To this day, the PhRMA Foundation has stayed true to its mission of supporting cutting-edge science and future generations of researchers.
By the Numbers
$110M
In research funding
+2,700
awards
+270
Research institutions funded
Celebrating 60 Years of Investing in Future Leaders
In 2025, the PhRMA Foundation is celebrating our 60th anniversary. Our awards have helped to launch the careers of thousands of accomplished scientists in academia, industry, government, and beyond. By focusing our grantmaking activities on funding promising up-and-coming scientists, the Foundation has helped to build and train the scientific workforce.
This anniversary report provides a brief history and timeline of our work and results from an award recipient survey about their career achievements and the impact of their Foundation award. Read the 60th Anniversary Report.
Establishing the Foundation
In the fall of 1962, in the wake of the thalidomide tragedy, the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (the trade association now known as PhRMA) established the Commission on Drug Safety to bring together the best available talent to rebuild public trust in medicine, coordinate U.S. drug safety information, and make recommendations on areas in need of attention.
Among its many recommendations, the commission suggested establishing a foundation for “the promotion of the public health through the study and development of the science of therapeutics.” On May 31, 1965, the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association Foundation was established.
The initial focus of the Foundation was twofold:
- Support fundamental research in toxicology
- Support the research and training of personnel in the fields of clinical pharmacology and drug evaluation
What is needed, and what the Foundation hopes to provide, is consistent, patient effort, with an element of imagination and boldness in seeking advances of significance.
Fostering New Fields
From the beginning, the Foundation was intended to be flexible and adaptable, allowing the organization to adjust course to meet changing scientific needs. This approach has allowed the Foundation to help seed and grow emerging areas of research over time. Initially, the Foundation primarily focused on pharmacology and toxicology to build scientific rigor around medication safety. Today, these areas play a critical role in understanding the safety of new medicines in the earliest stages of development.
More recently, the Foundation has helped advance the fields of health outcomes research and value assessment, recognizing the importance of evaluating the effectiveness and value of new medicines. Through these grant programs and centers of excellence, the Foundation supports efforts to develop tools and frameworks for understanding the value of medicines and other health care services. This work helps move the U.S. health care system toward a more value-driven approach that balances scientific evidence and patient preferences while ensuring health care dollars are well spent.
Today, the Foundation awards grants and fellowships in the areas of drug discovery, drug delivery, translational medicine, and value assessment and health outcomes research.
View a timeline highlighting the Foundation’s investments in new areas of research over its 60 years.
Developing the Scientific Workforce
The Foundation’s grantmaking activities fund promising research conducted by up-and-coming scientists across the U.S., helping to build and train a workforce to support the ever-changing needs of the biopharmaceutical sector. Most Foundation grants fund scientists and researchers early in their careers, including graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and new faculty members. Through its grant programs, the Foundation also seeks to reduce disparities in scientific research funding. Roughly half of our recent grantees are women and roughly half are people of color. These early-career funding opportunities help boost these individuals’ ability to attract subsequent research grants.
PhRMA Foundation grants have supported many successful scientists who have gone on to achieve impressive careers in academia, industry, and government. Among PhRMA Foundation grant recipients are Arthur H. Hayes, MD (former FDA commissioner), J. Craig Venter, PhD (sequenced the first human genome), Stephen P. Spielberg, MD, PhD (former FDA deputy commissioner), Namandjé Bumpus, PhD (former FDA deputy commissioner), Raymond Woolsey, MD, PhD (founded Critical Path Institute), and Susan Band Horwitz, PhD (discovered how cancer drug Taxol works).