Center for Life Sciences Innovation
ITIF’s Center for Life Sciences Innovation advocates for accelerating biopharmaceutical innovation by recognizing that the public and private sectors both have essential roles to play. The Center’s mission is to study and advance the many technology, economic, and policy factors underpinning successful life sciences innovation—from how new technologies like artificial intelligence, genomics, and gene editing are powering the next generation of biomedical innovation to the economics of life sciences innovation, including the role of IP and incentives therein; international competitiveness in life sciences innovation; and foremost the optimal set of public policies, at home and abroad, to spur greater levels of much-needed biopharmaceutical innovation. (Read more.)
- Special series on evidence-based biopharmaceutical policymaking: Better evidence is needed to evaluate the impact of public policy changes on new drug development. To address this need, ITIF is sponsoring a research grant program and a special issue of Health Affairs Scholar. Grant proposals are due December 15. (Read the guidelines.) The Center will serve as a hub for this ongoing work. (Read the series.)
- Special series on global health innovation: Innovate4Health is a joint project of ITIF and the University of Akron IP Center (UAIP), spotlighting innovators from around the world who have leveraged IP systems to bring their life-saving innovations to market.
- Stay up to date on our work by signing up for ITIF’s weekly email and checking the box to get information about “Life Sciences.”
Featured Publications
The Value of Follow-On Biopharma Innovation for Health Outcomes and Economic Growth

Follow-on biopharmaceutical innovations deliver substantial health and economic benefits by improving the safety and efficacy of existing therapies, addressing unmet patient needs, expanding therapeutic applications, and enhancing adherence. Supportive policies are essential to sustain progress and ensure broad access to these medical advances.
Events
December 10, 2024
Innovate4Health: How IP and Innovation Are Solving Global Health Challenges
Watch now for an event releasing a report by ITIF, the Geneva Network, and the University of Akron School of Law profiling 24 pioneering case studies from five regions—Latin America, Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Middle East and North Africa—where IP rights have enabled innovators to create impactful health solutions, particularly in the developing world.
March 5, 2024
Preserving U.S. Leadership in Biopharmaceutical Innovation
Watch now for an expert panel discussion surrounding the ITIF report examining why the United States lost its lead in other advanced technology industries, and how policymakers can avoid repeating the same mistakes in the biopharmaceutical sector.
April 4, 2023
Lessons From the Rise and Fall of Japan’s Life-Sciences Innovation Ecosystem
Tune in for an expert panel discussion examining where Japan faltered in this sector, what it must do to restore its life-sciences innovation leadership and competitiveness, why that would be in the best interests of both Japan and the United States—and what America must do to avoid following in Japan’s footsteps.
March 24, 2023
Preserving a Virtuous Cycle: The Economics of Biopharmaceutical Innovation
Watch the release event of a new report that examines the dynamics that underpin the economics of biopharmaceutical innovation and how to maintain a supportive environment that keeps the United States in the lead of life-sciences innovation.
March 29, 2022
How Using March-in Rights Would Threaten America’s Research Universities
ITIF hosted a panel discussion with leading experts on innovation policy, technology transfer, and business, who spoke to the practical implications of exercising federal “march-in” rights and why it would be a grave and ill-timed mistake for the U.S. health, competitiveness, and research landscape.

Vice President, Global Innovation Policy, and Director, Center for Life Sciences Innovation
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Read Bio
Cain Brothers & Company Professor of Healthcare Management in the Faculty of Business
Columbia University Graduate School of Business
Read BioMore From the Center
May 27, 2025|Blogs
Drug Development in Microgravity: The Next Frontier in Biopharmaceutical Innovation
Microgravity could be the next big breakthrough in drug development, but only if policymakers act now to turn space-based research from potential into progress.
May 15, 2025|Blogs
President Trump Is Right: Other Nations Need to Pay More for Medicines
The Trump administration’s call for “most favored nation” drug price controls will lead to less biopharmaceutical innovation and reduced U.S. drug industry competitiveness. However, the president’s willingness to use tariff negotiations to press other nations to pay their fair share for patented drugs is salutary.
March 24, 2025|Blogs
Broadening Genetic Representation in Biomedical Research Data
To stay ahead in biopharma and ensure new therapies work for everyone, the U.S. must fix the diversity gap in biomedical research.
February 27, 2025|Testimonies & Filings
Comments to CMS on the List of Drugs for Price Setting Starting in 2027
Recent policies permitting CMS price setting are hamstringing the U.S. biopharmaceutical industry, as they reduce incentives for pharmaceutical companies to invest in future drug R&D to create life-improving and life-saving medicines.
February 19, 2025|Blogs
How Early-Stage Science Drives Medical Innovation
Cutting federal life sciences funding threatens U.S. biopharmaceutical innovation, while China is ramping up investment to dominate the industry.
February 3, 2025|Op-Eds & Contributed Articles
A Bipartisan Success: Celebrating 40 Years of the Hatch-Waxman Act
The 1984 Hatch-Waxman Act revolutionized the U.S. pharmaceutical industry, successfully balancing the interests of pharmaceutical innovation and affordability by creating legal pathways for accelerated generic drug competition while extending patent protections and introducing data exclusivities that preserved incentives for novel pharmaceutical innovation.
January 13, 2025|Blogs
Streamlining Drug Approvals Without Compromising Safety
The FDA’s Breakthrough Therapy Designation program underscores the benefits of targeted regulatory innovation. Its success offers valuable lessons for policymakers navigating the balance between speed and safety in approving life-saving therapies.