pharma

noun

phar·​ma ˈfär-mə 

: a pharmaceutical company

also : large pharmaceutical companies as a group

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

Sanofi fell after the French pharma giant reported fourth-quarter results that missed estimates, which analysts attributed mainly to weak sales for the vaccines unit. —Elena Popina, Fortune, 4 Feb. 2023

The deal gives the U.K. pharma giant global rights to the baxdrostat cardiorenal drug and comes barely a year after CinCor went public on Nasdaq. —Laura Cooper, WSJ, 9 Jan. 2023

Big pharma cashing in on experiences many take as spiritual rubs some the wrong way. —Justin Higginbottom, The New Republic, 3 Jan. 2023

The British pharma company AstraZeneca will occupy one of two new office-and-lab buildings, relocating about 1,600 of its employees from Waltham and Boston. —Scott Kirsner, BostonGlobe.com, 13 Nov. 2022

Swiss pharma firm Merck is also testing an antiviral tablet to treat Covid-19, molnupiravir, and expects data from late-stage clinical trials by the end of the year. —Robert Hart, Forbes, 27 Sep. 2021

Energy companies, big industries, big pharma and the like are the ones pushing this agenda of the Court. —Richard Schiffman, Scientific American, 8 July 2022

The argument goes that biotech has become so cheap that big pharma—staring down a patent cliff and armed with hundreds of billions of dollars of dry powder for acquisitions—will come to the rescue. —David Wainer, WSJ, 30 June 2022

If nothing is passed by the time the Senate goes into recess in August, investors will start feeling more comfortable upping their pharma and biotech bets in anticipation of a poor showing for Democrats in the fall. —David Wainer, WSJ, 17 June 2022

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Word History

Etymology

short for pharmaceutical

First Known Use

1992, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

pharma

noun

phar·​ma ˈfär-mə 

: a pharmaceutical company

But the rate at which pharmas have grown in size pales beside the acceleration of relevant scientific knowledge during the same period.

—Science

also : large pharmaceutical companies as a group

Another issue pharma will face is an even more cost-conscious consumer as a result of insurers continuing to pass on additional costs to their members.

—Shaun Urban, Medical Marketing and Media

The Medicare prescription drug benefit enacted in 2003, and scheduled to go into effect in 2006, promises a windfall for big pharma since it forbids the government from negotiating prices.

—Marcia Angell, The New York Review of Books