In the article, the authors analyzed the activities of pharmaceutical companies in the world in the field of research and development (R & D) on the basis of international and Russian statistics. The financing of R & D in pharmaceuticals traditionally retains its decisive role in the development of both the industry as a whole and the global economy and the social sphere in the conditions of the outpacing growth of the age qualification of the world's population, which is the relevance of the article. The purpose of the article is to identify new trends in the development of investment and R&D in the pharmaceutical industry. The authors conducted quantitative and qualitative monitoring of the parameters of pharmaceutical companies' activities in the field of research and development in the last decade and identified a number of fundamentally new trends, such as the emergence of new pharmaceutical technologies, evaluation of healthcare technologies by society/the state, digitalization (including digital interaction with customers whose base is becoming more diversified), price growth on drugs and research risks, transformation of the industry's business strategies and more flexible project management due to the impact of COVID-19, including in the field of research, development and investment in the pharmaceutical industry.