Biopharmaceutical research companies haven't let the recession impede research and development and invested a record $65.3 billion last year in the research and development of new life-changing medicines and vaccines-an increase of more than $1.5 billion from 2008, according to analyses by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and Burrill & Company .

PhRMA-member companies alone spent an estimated $45.8 billion on pharmaceutical R&D last year, according to the survey. The Burrill & Company analysis shows that non-PhRMA pharmaceutical research companies in the United States spent an estimated $19.5 billion on R&D in 2009.

While companies have been forced to make difficult business decisions, research spending as a percentage of sales remained high in 2009. Over the past nine years, America's pharmaceutical research companies have consistently invested around 18 percent of domestic sales on R&D activities.

"America's biopharmaceutical research sector takes great pride in its global leadership in the development of new life-saving treatments and cures," said PhRMA President and CEO Billy Tauzin.