pharma

[ fahr-muh ]

/ ˈfɑr mə /

noun

a pharmaceutical company.

Also called big pharma. pharmaceutical companies, considered collectively: Pharma is expanding into China, hoping to replace local remedies with manufactured drugs.

Nearby words

pharisees, pharm., pharm.b., pharm.d., pharm.m., pharma, pharmaceutical, pharmaceutics, pharmacist, pharmaco-, pharmacodiagnosis

Origin of pharma

First recorded in 1990-95; short for pharmaceutical

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for pharma

Compared with Pharma, compounders are very lightly regulated.
Blame Game Underway as Meningitis Outbreak Broadens|Kent Sepkowitz|October 10, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Taxes on pharma and medical devices would remain, while managed-care and hospital companies would suffer big losses.
How the Supreme Court’s Health-Care Ruling Will Move the Markets|Alex Klein|June 21, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Zedlmayer called for a full "eco system": Pharma, R&D, the works.
Barbara Bush: Young Leaders Can Solve the Global Health Crisis|Casey Schwartz|March 9, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Even if the Blunt amendment had passed, Pharma would still do well.
Peter Schweizer: Big Pharma’s Role in the Contraception Debate|Peter Schweizer|March 2, 2012|DAILY BEAST

Pharma runs this country and we the patients are the trusting losers.
My War on Cancer|Suzanne Somers|November 8, 2009|DAILY BEAST
The appetite-suppressing hormones had been used in the Mexican pharma industry for years.
Makers|Cory Doctorow

British Dictionary definitions for pharma

pharma

/ (ˈfɑːmə) /

noun

pharmaceutical companies when considered together as an industry

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012