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.)
- Featured Series: 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 by signing up for ITIF’s weekly email and checking the box to get information about “Life Sciences.”
Featured Publications
LATAM Health Champions, 2024
Innovation plays a critical role in improving public health and in overcoming global health challenges. The call for LATAM Health Champions, which ran from February 5 to March 5, 2024, received more than 60 applications proposing innovative health solutions to a wide range of health challenges. Here, the top 20 are highlighted.
Not Again: Why the United States Can’t Afford to Lose Its Biopharma Industry
America’s leadership in advanced-technology industries can never be taken for granted, as evidenced by its losses in telecommunications equipment, semiconductors, televisions, solar panels, and chemicals. Policymakers must recognize what went wrong in those cases to avoid a similar industrial decline in the biopharmaceutical industry.
Events
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.
April 29, 2021
How Intellectual Property Has Played a Pivotal Role in the Global COVID-19 Response
ITIF hosted an expert panel discussion about the report and the vital role IP has played throughout the pandemic.
Vice President, Global Innovation Policy, and Director, Center for Life Sciences Innovation
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Read BioCain Brothers & Company Professor of Healthcare Management in the Faculty of Business
Columbia University Graduate School of Business
Read BioMore From the Center
August 28, 2024|Blogs
Alzheimer’s Disease Next Game Changer: TauRx Pharmaceutical’s Novel Tau Aggregation Inhibitor
TauRx is revolutionizing Alzheimer's treatment with a novel drug that targets toxic brain proteins, offering fresh hope in the fight against this devastating disease.
August 16, 2024|Blogs
Innovative Cure For All: How CurASeal’s Plant-Based Technology Advances Bleeding Control and Wound Healing
InCurA is revolutionizing MENA's medical landscape with AI-optimized, locally produced hemostatic solutions like CurASeal, bridging the gap between innovation and accessibility while reducing reliance on global imports.
July 30, 2024|Reports & Briefings
How Innovative Is China in Biotechnology?
China used to be considered a laggard in biotech. But with a comprehensive national strategy and extensive resources now supporting the industry, it is becoming more innovative. In fact, several indicators suggest it is narrowing the innovation gap with global leaders in the West.
June 7, 2024|Blogs
Mexico, Maize, and Food Sovereignty
Mexico's newly elected president, Claudia Sheinbaum, can reverse President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's anti-innovation policies toward genetically modified maize, and improve the lives of small farmers across Mexico.
May 13, 2024|Blogs
Advancing Biomedical Innovation With Policies Supporting Privacy-Enhancing Technologies
By improving privacy protection and facilitating secure collaborative research, privacy-enhancing technology could complement data-sharing policies and enable analysis of sensitive medical data and support biomedical innovation.
February 6, 2024|Testimonies & Filings
Comments to the NIST Regarding the Draft Interagency Guidance Framework for Considering the Exercise of March-In Rights
America’s innovation system is fragile, and its leadership in advanced technology industries is never guaranteed or assured. The United States has taken—only to sacrifice—its lead in a wide-range of advanced technology industries, often in part because of significant policy lapses. It’s no time for additional unforced errors.
January 31, 2024|Testimonies & Filings
Comments to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Regarding the WHO Pandemic Preparedness Agreement
The United States should not endorse an IPR waiver in the WHO Pandemic Preparedness Agreement. It would not increase the number of vaccines or therapeutics, or the global supply that might be needed to address a future global pandemic.