Drug Company R&D Spending Rises

WASHINGTON--A survey of an industry trade group finds that US research-based pharmaceutical companies plan to spend $20.6 billion for research and development in 1998, an amount equal to 19.6% of the industry’s projected annual revenues. This represents an increase of 10.7% over last year’s R&D funding by the companies, according to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).