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Biopharmaceutical Innovation

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.

Sandra Barbosu
Sandra Barbosu

Associate Director

Center for Life Sciences Innovation

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Stephen Ezell
Stephen Ezell

Vice President, Global Innovation Policy, and Director, Center for Life Sciences Innovation

Information Technology and Innovation Foundation

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Natalie Khoo
Natalie Khoo

Policy Fellow

Center for Life Sciences Innovation

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Featured

Evidence to Inform Biopharmaceutical Policy: A Call for Research on the Impact of Public Policies on Investment in Drug Development

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

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

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

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”

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

May 20, 2025|Blogs

Tech Solutions Can Fight the Surge in Counterfeit Medicine

Counterfeit drugs are flooding U.S. supply chains—fueled by third-party sellers, drop-shipping, and weak online pharmacy oversight. The fentanyl crisis highlights the danger, but the issue runs deeper. Enforcement alone isn't enough. Congress and regulators must embrace digital solutions like blockchain, RFID tagging, and tamper-proof packaging to secure drug traceability and protect public health.

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.

May 13, 2025|Blogs

Foreign Reference Pricing: A Fast Track to Losing America’s Biopharmaceutical Edge to China

The Trump administration’s “MFN” drug-price proposal would pose a far greater threat to U.S. biopharma innovation than the Inflation Reduction Act, because unlike the IRA’s selective list, MFN could apply across virtually every medicine, multiplying the deleterious impact.

May 12, 2025|Testimonies & Filings

Comments to OMB Regarding Deregulation

As part of its deregulation efforts, the administration should clarify Bayh-Dole march-in rights; rescind NIH Access Planning Policy; rescind FRA two-person train crew requirements; clarify requirements for manually operated driving controls; protect America’s innovative clean-energy technologies; and streamline regulatory permitting for semiconductors.

May 7, 2025|Events

Making Medicines in America: How Congress Can Help America’s AI, Biopharma, and Manufacturing Industries Make It Happen

Watch now for a summit on Capitol Hill presented by ITIF, Purdue University, and the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Technology and Education (NIPTE) where top leaders in AI, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and public policy will discuss what must be done.

May 7, 2025|Testimonies & Filings

Comments to the Bureau of Industry and Security Regarding Its Section 232 Investigation of Pharmaceutical Imports

Instead of blanket tariffs, America should focus first on persuading other nations to pay their fair share, and then on supporting public-private investments in novel technologies that will make U.S. pharmaceutical producers more innovative and cost-competitive.

April 21, 2025|Blogs

America Funds Cures—The World Must Share the Burden

The United States shoulders the cost of global drug innovation—unless wealthy nations pay their fair share, future cures will stall.

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.

March 17, 2025|Reports & Briefings

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.

March 3, 2025|Events

Tech Policy 202: Spring 2025 Educational Seminar Series for Congressional and Federal Staff

ITIF’s spring seminar course explores core emerging technologies and issues that are reshaping our world and, in the process, creating public policy challenges and opportunities. The course is open to congressional and federal staff only.

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