A Unique Approach to Business Strategy as a Means to Enable Change in Global Healthcare: A Case Study

[摘要] The focus of translational science—a multidisciplinary field of basic scientific research that is motivated to develop practical healthcare applications—is to bring intellectual property (IP)2 developed in an academic environment into the commercial marketplace, where it can meet a need. The term “translational science” broadly refers to potential therapeutics, biomarkers of disease, medical devices, and diagnostic technologies. The NIH currently provides funding to 60 US-based academic institutions that are dedicated to clinical and translational science (1). The use of academia as an incubator for ideas is an attractive method to build value and mitigate the risk that is inherent to scientific research, because the structure of academic research—multiple sources of funding for high-risk concepts, the peer-review process, and the pressure to disclose data publicly—provides a measure of security. Many ideas that leave this environment before they are developed properly will fail in the competitive industrial environment. After an idea is vetted in academia, an industrial partner is required to mature the idea into a product (2). Although there are many examples of this process (e.g., IP is licensed by an established company, or a start-up company is created), the common foundation minimally requires ( a ) an important need, ( b ) a good idea, and ( c ) the funding to develop ideas into products. We present a case study that outlines a novel business strategy we have developed for bringing such products to the global economy.Diagnostics For All (DFA) was founded in 2007 as an outlet to engineer and commercialize a biotechnology platform—cost-effective diagnostic devices based on patterned paper that are designed specifically for use in the developing world—pioneered by the laboratory of Professor George Whitesides of Harvard University (3–8). Atypical of most start-ups, the goals of DFA were best embodied by those of a nonprofit organization. After incorporation, DFA applied …

[学科分类] 过敏症与临床免疫学