PhRMA alters membership requirements to focus on research

Confirming yesterday's buzz, PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry's primary lobbying group, announced changes to its membership structure today that include stricter membership requirements and the elimination of its "associate" category. As a result, 22 companies lost their membership or associate membership status. The new requirements, based on a three-year average:

• At least $200 million per year spent on research
• Research expenditures equal to at least 10% of global sales

Why it matters: As we said yesterday, this is PhRMA's way of trying to get rid of smaller companies that engage in the controversial practice of buying older drugs and jacking up the prices. Read on to see who's out.