Biopharmaceutical Innovation
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The world is entering a promising golden age of life sciences innovation, with potentially enormous benefits for human health, productivity, and sustainability. But that vision is at risk from a host of forces that seek to hamper the fundamental business models that have enabled such innovation. ITIF’s Center for Life Sciences Innovation exists to fight back against such forces, while documenting the importance of life science innovation and the private-sector led model complemented by government support that has been so successful elevate. We conduct research, generate policy proposals, and convene members of the analytical and policymaking communities with this mission firmly in focus.
Associate Director, Center for Life Sciences Innovation
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
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Vice President, Global Innovation Policy, and Director, Center for Life Sciences Innovation
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
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Evidence to Inform Biopharmaceutical Policy: A Call for Research on the Impact of Public Policies on Investment in Drug Development
The scope and magnitude of the trade-off between immediate savings from lower drug prices and future health benefits from clinical development remain poorly understood and quantified. To support rigorous evaluations and inform evidence-based policymaking, it is crucial to invest in this area through research grants and improved access to federal and private data.
Evidence-Based Biopharmaceutical Policymaking: Symposium Report
There is a need for more rigorous evidence and more recent, high-quality data to inform biopharmaceutical policymaking by shedding light on the relationship between pharmaceutical firms’ expectations of financial returns from new drugs and their ability to invest in further R&D to discover future generations of drugs.
How Skeptics Misconstrue the Link Between Drug Prices and Innovation
A recent article in the British Medical Journal contends “high drug prices” are neither necessary nor justified to sustain biopharmaceutical innovation. But it misrepresents and misinterprets the facts, highlighting how faulty the rationale is for drug price controls.
The Hidden Toll of Drug Price Controls: Fewer New Treatments and Higher Medical Costs for the World
When nations implement pharmaceutical price controls, they reduce pharmaceutical revenues, which then reduces investments in further R&D, limiting future generations’ access to new novel treatments needed to fight diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, and diabetes.
Testimony to the Senate Finance Committee on “Prescription Drug Price Inflation”
Expenditures for retail prescriptions have been roughly stable for the past two decades as a share of total U.S. health-care expenditures. Instead of applying broad price controls, policymakers should promote affordability and mitigate out-of-pocket costs for individuals.
More Publications and Events
June 2, 2026|Blogs
AI Drug Discovery Systems Could Strengthen Biopharmaceutical Innovation—If Policymakers Get the Incentives Right
AI systems like Robin could reshape early-stage drug discovery, but only if policymakers support the data, infrastructure, regulatory clarity, and incentives needed to scale them responsibly.
June 1, 2026|Blogs
Fact of the Week: Eliminating Cancer Deaths Would Generate $186 Trillion in Total Economic Benefits Over a 35-Year Period
If cancer deaths were to be fully eliminated by 2030, over the subsequent 35 years, 30.7 million deaths would be averted, saving 380 million years of life. These additional years of life would also yield substantial economic benefits, as each year of life generates economic value, increased productivity, and tax revenue.
May 12, 2026|Events
Lessons From Europe’s Loss of Biopharma Leadership, and Its Attempts to Recover
Watch now for an expert panel discussion on what Europe’s experience reveals about the risks of undermining biopharmaceutical innovation, how policy choices shape R&D investment and competitiveness, and what steps U.S. policymakers should take to sustain American leadership in life sciences.
May 4, 2026|Blogs
Fact of the Week: China Is the Source of 30 Percent of New Innovative Drugs Produced Globally
In 2024, researchers and scientists in China were responsible for developing more than 1,250 new drugs, more than the EU and just slightly less than the United States, which developed 1,440. In total, China developed 30 percent of the world's new innovative drugs.
April 20, 2026|Blogs
Fact of the Week: Researchers on the International Space Station Have Produced 4,000 Research Papers Since 2000
Over the past 26 years, researchers on the International Space Station have produced roughly 4,000 research papers and have helped to develop treatments for several diseases, including cancer, Alzheimer’s, and heart disease.
April 9, 2026|Blogs
America's Living Library Act Would Expand Access to Nature's Drug Discovery Potential
America’s Living Library Act would turn U.S. biodiversity into a strategic innovation asset by fueling AI-enabled drug discovery, strengthening biopharma R&D, and helping America stay ahead in the global biotech race.
April 3, 2026|Blogs
Trump Pharma Tariffs: Wrong Rx for U.S. Patients, Manufacturing, and Innovation
The Trump administration’s Section 232 pharmaceutical tariffs will needlessly raise drug costs, harm U.S. patients, and undermine both domestic manufacturing and global biopharmaceutical innovation, while better policy options exist to strengthen the industry without these damaging side effects.
March 18, 2026|Reports & Briefings
Lessons From Europe’s Loss of Biopharma Leadership, and Its Attempts to Recover
Europe once led the world in biopharmaceutical innovation, but it lost ground after adopting policies that weakened incentives for R&D and innovation. America must learn from Europe’s experience to preserve its own biopharma leadership and the related economic benefits and access to the most innovative drugs.
March 16, 2026|Reports & Briefings
Leveraging Innovation to Improve Alzheimer’s Diagnosis and Care in Rural America
Rural communities face structural barriers to diagnosing Alzheimer’s early, which increases burdens on patients and caregivers while raising health-care costs. Policymakers should address the problem by expanding provider training and accelerating scalable diagnostic technologies.
March 9, 2026|Blogs
Fact of the Week: Productivity in the Pharmaceutical and Medicine Industry Fell by 2.4 Percent Annually Between 2014 and 2024
The pharmaceutical and medicine industry has seen its productivity decline by 2.4 percent annually between 2014 and 2024, one of the worst performances among U.S. manufacturing industries.
