Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and the Economy

There is growing consensus that the process of translating biomedical research into effective therapeutics is broken and that the current business model for life sciences research and development (R&D) is flawed. The trend of increasing risk and complexity within the biopharmaceutical industry implies that the traditional sources of financing—e.g., private and public equity—are becoming less effective because the needs and expectations of limited partners and shareholders are becoming less aligned with the new realities of biomedical innovation. The result is a push toward funding projects and strategies with clearer and more immediate payoffs, leaving the more speculative but potentially more transformative science and translational research to languish. In order to address these issues, the seemingly disparate worlds of business and finance and science and medicine must converge; new business models that provide the proper incentives for all key stakeholders to work together toward the common goal of improving biomedical innovation must be developed. This session highlights emerging ideas and concepts with this intent.