National Pharmaceutical Council

What National Pharmaceutical Council does

The National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC) is a private, nonprofit 501(c)(6) policy research organization founded in 1953 and headquartered at 1717 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC. NPC conducts evidence-based health policy research focused on the value of patient access to innovative medicines, with core topic areas spanning health spending, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Medicare Drug Price Negotiation, the 340B Drug Pricing Program, value assessment frameworks, alternative payment models (including value-based contracts and paying for cures), patient-centered formulary and benefit design, real-world data/evidence, and biopharmaceutical innovation. The organization is governed by a Board of Directors and funded by membership dues from approximately 18 leading biopharmaceutical companies including Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Biogen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Genentech, Gilead, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, and others. NPC employs 11-50 staff led by President and CEO John M. O'Brien alongside a Chief Science Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Communications Officer, and dedicated VPs for Research, Policy and External Affairs, Alliances, and Communications.

NPC delivers research through a portfolio of publications, partnerships, and professional development programs rather than a software platform. Outputs include the E.V.I.dently Today Blog, CER Daily Newsfeed, NPC Fact Sheets, Policy & Evidence Briefs, comment letters, and the Going Below The Surface Forum (a multi-stakeholder initiative with more than 20 healthcare-sector partners). Recent 2026 research covers the 340B program's impact on hospital assets and administrative salaries, early signals of IRA impact on clinical development, gene therapy contracting and patient access, and CMS Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program dynamics. Strategic academic and policy partnerships include the Rutgers-NPC Health Policy & Communications Fellowship (two-year postdoctoral program), the NPC Summer Scholars program launched in 2024, and collaborations with Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, the Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health at Tufts Medical Center, MIT's FoCUS project, and Health Affairs' Considering Health Spending series (which has generated more than 100 articles and blogs under NPC sponsorship).

NPC's revenue model is membership-based subscription dues paid annually by member biopharmaceutical companies; the organization does not sell products or services commercially and does not publicly disclose financial details. Distribution of research relies on npcnow.org, email newsletters, events and webinars, social media (Twitter/X, LinkedIn, YouTube), press releases, and media partnerships. NPC was certified as a Great Place To Work through 2026-27. The organization is member-funded, not venture-backed, and operates without a parent company or subsidiaries.

Name

National Pharmaceutical Council

Legal name

National Pharmaceutical Council

Website

https://npcnow.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1953

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC) is a nonprofit policy research organization founded in 1953 that produces evidence-based research on biopharmaceutical value, health spending, and patient access for its 18 member companies and the broader healthcare policy community.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Health Policy Research

NAICS

Scientific Research and Development Services (5417), Business Associations (813910)

SIC

Services-Health Services (8000), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Chronic Disease & NCD Program Evaluation (e.g., diabetes/CVD/cancer) (HLAJANAG)

Keywords

• Health policy research
• Pharmaceutical policy analysis
• Comparative effectiveness research
• Biopharmaceutical research
• Healthcare policy advocacy

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: NPC is a member-based nonprofit organization supported by leading biopharmaceutical companies. Revenue comes from annual membership dues paid by member companies in the biopharmaceutical industry.

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC) is a nonprofit health policy research organization that conducts and publishes independent research on biopharmaceutical, clinical, and healthcare policy issues. It is supported by membership dues from leading biopharmaceutical companies and distributes its findings through research reports, policy briefs, fact sheets, and a public-facing website.

Product overview

The National Pharmaceutical Council is a nonprofit policy research organization (not a product company) that provides research-based insights on health policy, pharmaceutical value, and patient access to innovative medicines. The organization operates as a unified research and education entity rather than a platform-with-modules architecture. Its portfolio consists primarily of research publications (E.V.I.dently Today Blog, CER Daily Newsfeed®, NPC Fact Sheets, Policy & Evidence Briefs), collaborative initiatives (Going Below The Surface Forum), and professional development programs (Rutgers-NPC Health Policy & Communications Fellowship, NPC Summer Scholars).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Rutgers-NPC Health Policy & Communications Fellowship: A two-year training program that trains and empowers the next generation of health policy professionals and leaders, run in partnership with Rutgers University.
• NPC Summer Scholars
• Going Below The Surface Forum
• CER Daily Newsfeed

Products and services

• Health Policy Research Reports
• Policy Briefs and Fact Sheets
• Blog and Newsfeed

Quantifiable outcome

• NPC sponsors Health Affairs' Considering Health Spending series which has spurred more than 100 articles and blogs

Named customers18 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• Rutgers University - Institute for Pharmaceutical Industry FellowshipscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Rutgers-NPC Health Policy & Communications Fellowship Program trains post-doctoral fellows for two years in health policy research and communications. Fellows report to and are mentored by the President and CEO, working closely with NPC's senior leadership team, Board of Directors, and member company staff workgroups. Applications for 2026-2028 cohort are closed.
• Going Below The Surface ForumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerA group of more than 20 partners across the healthcare sector interested in tackling health spending challenges. The forum has developed a Roadmap to Address Low-value Care and hosts regional town hall meetings and salon discussions to foster constructive conversations focused on solutions.
• Duke-Margolis Center for Health PolicymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNPC partnered with Duke-Margolis to survey payers and biopharmaceutical manufacturers on participation in value-based contracts. The study found that most value-based contracts are not publicly disclosed, indicating implementation is more prevalent than previously assumed.
• Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health at Tufts Medical CentermajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNPC collaborated with Tufts Medical Center researchers on a study examining how commercial health plans update specialty drug coverage after FDA label changes. The study reviewed over 1,200 health plan policies from 2019 to 2022.
• MIT Center for Biomedical Innovation - FoCUS ProjectmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNPC partners with MIT's Financing and Reimbursement of Cures in the US (FoCUS) project, where more than 150 organizations are involved in testing financing concepts for curative therapies. NPC conducts analyses on how potential reforms to Medicaid Best Price would affect curative and chronic therapeutics.
• Health AffairscoreGTM or Marketing PartnerNPC sponsors Health Affairs' Considering Health Spending series, which has spurred more than 100 articles and blogs. This partnership helps bring different stakeholders together in conversation and dig deeper into health spending drivers.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• PhRMA (Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America): The primary US biopharmaceutical industry trade association. Both PhRMA and NPC are pharma-funded organizations shaping drug-pricing, IRA, and innovation policy debates, and they compete for member dues from the same biopharma companies.
• BIO (Biotechnology Innovation Organization): The leading US biotechnology industry trade association with a comparable membership-funded policy research and advocacy model, representing many of the same innovative biopharma companies as NPC.
• Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER): Independent drug value assessment organization whose value-based price benchmark reports frequently intersect NPC's value assessment research, serving overlapping policy and payer audiences with comparable methodology rigor.
• AcademyHealth: National health services research organization with a similar research-driven policy mission and stakeholder convening role. Comparable scale, scope of research output, and Washington DC policy engagement.
• America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP): Health insurance industry trade association with a parallel membership-funded policy research and advocacy structure, representing the payer side of the same drug-pricing debates NPC engages in from the manufacturer side.
• Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy: Academic health policy research center at Duke University with overlapping research on value-based contracts, IRA implementation, and biopharmaceutical innovation policy; NPC has an active research partnership with Duke-Margolis.

Broad incumbents

• Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF): Major independent health policy research foundation with a significantly broader mandate covering insurance, Medicaid, and global health, plus a much larger research budget that competes for policy attention across NPC's topic areas.
• Commonwealth Fund: Major health policy research foundation with broader scope covering healthcare system reform, international comparisons, and Medicare — directly intersecting NPC's drug-pricing and value research with greater resources.
• RAND Corporation: Large multidisciplinary research organization with a substantial health policy research division producing work on drug pricing, value assessment, and healthcare delivery that competes for policy-maker attention alongside NPC.

Emerging players

• Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease: Multi-stakeholder coalition advocating for chronic disease policy reform with a similar coalition-and-membership model, though with a narrower disease-focused scope compared to NPC's broader biopharmaceutical policy remit.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/npcnow
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/npcnow
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/1392041
• Facebookfacebook.com/npcnow

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about National Pharmaceutical Council