Ethics, Codes & Guidelines

PhRMA represents the nation’s leading biopharmaceutical research companies. Our success in developing and delivering medicines to help patients live longer and healthier lives depends on ethical relationships and behavior. Browse key Codes and Guidelines below, and visit our Resource Library for more.

Designed as a forum for leading US health system stakeholders, the ongoing addition of key health stakeholders and the inclusion of diverse sector perspectives facilitates the establishment of best practices and high standards that center on the needs of patients and the promotion of health equity.

Representatives from the National Health Council (NHC), the National Medical Association (NMA), and the Pharmaceutical Researchers & Manufacturers Association (PhRMA) have launched an open initiative to advance health equity and ethical collaboration in the US health ecosystem.

As representatives of the pharmaceutical industry, we strongly support and are active leaders in the Business Ethics for APEC SMEs Initiative, the world’s largest public-private partnership to strengthen ethical business practices in the biopharmaceutical sector.

Ethical relationships with healthcare professionals are critical to our mission of helping patients by developing and marketing new medicines.

In October 2018, PhRMA’s Board of Directors adopted measures to enhance the PhRMA Guiding Principles on Direct to Consumer Advertisements about Prescription Medicines.

In the era of data-driven medicine, where all parties seek more, not less, information about the safety, effectiveness, and value of treatments, fostering informed communications among all stakeholders is critical.

We need a balanced approach that ensures appropriate access and use of prescription medicines by patients for legitimate medical needs under the direction and care of a licensed health care professional, but that also reduces the potential for misuse, abuse and diversion.

Biopharmaceutical companies share many common interests with patient organizations including a common commitment to patients and a shared mission to discover cures and fight disease.

Developing new therapies to treat disease and to improve quality of life is a long and complex process. A critical part of that process is clinical research, the study of a pharmaceutical product in humans.

Emerging payment and delivery reforms (often called “alternative payment models” or “value-based payment” designs) hold promise in advancing the efficient delivery of high-quality, personalized care.

Biopharmaceutical companies are committed to enhancing public health through responsible sharing of clinical trial data.

In July 2013, members of PhRMA and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) adopted Principles for Responsible Clinical Trial Data Sharing.

Healthcare providers and payers are increasingly turning to clinical pathways as tools to manage the cost of care and promote evidence-based treatment.

PhRMA supports the use of sound evidence for informed decision-making in health care.