Big Pharma

American

[big fahr-muh] / ˈbɪg ˈfɑr mə /

Or big pharma

noun

pharmaceutical companies considered collectively, especially with reference to their political and commercial influence.

The article attributes rising medical costs to private healthcare, Big Pharma, and insurance.

Etymology

Origin of Big Pharma

First recorded in 1990–95

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Big Pharma

“It’s a genuine place to be. I worried about going into Big Pharma and feeling evil. Novo felt wonderful. It was so focused on patient care, on science.”

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026

Big Pharma needs this type of innovation: About $300 billion in annual sales will disappear by early next decade due to patents expiring.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 28, 2026

It isn’t uncommon for Big Pharma to pay tens of billions of dollars for a biotech company.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 13, 2026

Big Pharma companies are constantly searching for the next hot new drugs—and it’s often a lot easier to buy them than develop them.

From Barron's ● Apr. 6, 2026

He also likes healthcare, which benefits from the fact that many Big Pharma and biotech companies pay juicy dividends.

From Barron's ● Mar. 13, 2026

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023