About ITIF’s Center for Life Sciences Innovation
Life sciences innovation has long played a pivotal role in lengthening lifespans and improving quality of life for individuals and societies around the world—and that is true now more than ever. In fact, one study found that pharmaceutical innovation accounted for nearly three-quarters of the increase in life expectancy across 30 nations in the first decade of the 21st century. This underscores the urgency of fostering greater life sciences innovation globally while ensuring broad access to these innovations—one of the most critical policy challenges of our time.
In recent decades, the United States has emerged as the global leader in life sciences innovation, largely due to intentional public policy choices that have created a strong, unique ecosystem to support innovation. Key factors include robust and complementary public and private investment in biomedical research and development (R&D), tax policies and other incentives that encourage biomedical investment, robust intellectual property (IP) protections, biomedical education and talent development, government funding of basic research, a dynamic biotech startup ecosystem that creates demand for venture capital investments, and a collaborative environment between academia, government, and industry. For example, the Bayh-Dole Act, enacted in 1980, has played a critical role in supporting the development, transfer, and commercialization of biomedical technologies. Additionally, a drug pricing system that allows innovators to earn sufficient revenue to continue investing in future biomedical innovation, along with an efficient regulatory framework for approving new drugs, has further bolstered American leadership of this critical field.
This leadership position is not assured, however, and must be constantly nurtured through a supportive policy environment, especially in light of robust foreign competition, particularly from China, which has developed a comprehensive national strategy to support the growth and innovation of its domestic industry. Recent U.S. policies targeting the biopharmaceutical industry, such as current and proposed government price regulation through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the misuse of Bayh-Dole march-in rights, which would weaken the IP protection regime and reduce incentives for pharmaceutical firms to invest in critical R&D, harm innovation. Instead, the U.S. government needs to sustain a supportive policy environment to uphold competitiveness in its domestic biopharmaceutical industry while improving affordability by investing in novel technologies that could reduce the cost of drug development, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced manufacturing technologies like continuous manufacturing.
Against this backdrop, ITIF’s Center for Life Sciences Innovation is dedicated to accelerating biopharmaceutical innovation by recognizing the essential roles of both the public and private sectors. The Center’s mission is to explore and advance the key technological, economic, and policy drivers of successful life sciences innovation, and to push back against policies and organizations that threaten this progress. This includes examining how emerging technologies such as AI, genomics, and gene editing are fueling the next generation of biomedical advancements; analyzing the economics of life sciences innovation, including the critical role of IP; and assessing international competitiveness in the field. Above all, the Center aims to identify and support the optimal public policies, both domestically and globally, to spur much-needed biopharmaceutical innovation.
Under the leadership of ITIF’s vice president of global innovation policy, Stephen Ezell, and senior policy manager Sandra Barbosu, ITIF’s Center for Life Sciences Innovation conducts original economic and policy research, produces actionable policy analysis, organizes high-level discussions and events, and engages with policymakers around the world to advance national and international policies that stimulate biopharmaceutical innovation. For the latest publications, events, and to learn more about the Center’s staff and advisors, visit the Center’s homepage.
