The changing investment in translational science by academic medical centers: HOPE in the Valley of Death

摘要

Historically, academic medical centers (AMCs) have been pioneers in medicine with a mission to advance promising discovery research to clinical application. Moreover, an institution’s prestige has been based on the reputation, innovation, and deep research and clinical expertise of its faculty. A large portion of basic research has been funded through federal agencies (e.g., NIH). An added bonus is that some research has yielded patentable inventions that, if successfully commercialized, became a revenue stream for the institution. Nevertheless, most investigators have not actively pursued commercialization of discoveries, leaving those responsibilities to their technology licensing offices.