The United States has long been the land of the American Dream—the opportunity available to all citizens to improve their quality of life with hard work and determination. A key theme in numerous works of classical American literature, it unites traditional opponents through its shared ideal that the next generation will enjoy prosperity not yet attained by the previous one.

Although often attributed to the pursuit of consumer goods, money and property, the American Dream clearly underpins the ideals at the heart of the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. In its relentless attempts to create drugs to improve an individual’s health, prolong life and eradicate disease for future generations, Americans are able to harness their talents and energy to transform lives.

The United States leads the world in terms of research and development (R&D); spending on this area by research-based pharmaceutical companies amounts to more than 20% of sales, compared to an average of 17% in the European Union. The importance of the sector to the American psyche is evident when compared with other high-technology industries: annual spending by the pharmaceutical industry is five times greater than in aerospace, four and a half times more than in the chemicals industry and two and a half times more than in the software and computer services industries.