CAREER: Empirical Studies of Innovation in Health Care Markets

2001年，《自然》和《科学》杂志发表了人类基因组的初步序列。在此后的十年里，人类基因组测序极大地加速了生物医学研究，并为医学革命奠定了基础。然而，《自然》杂志2001年的社论版并没有关注基因组测序在科学和医学上的前景，而是关注了一场关于管理公众获取基因组数据的规则的争议。事实上，根据许多说法，生物医学研究人员经常在科学研究和产品开发的非科学障碍的复杂环境中挣扎，例如谈判获得专利和非专利材料的途径。要成功地将基因组学转化为改善健康状况，就需要解决这些经济和体制障碍。智力价值：该项目概述了研究和教育的长期议程，调查卫生保健市场创新的障碍，特别侧重于基因组学的科学和医学。该项目由三部分组成。首先，它构建了一系列新的数据集来衡量基因组技术的发展和传播，并开发了开放获取程序，使其他人能够复制、更新和扩展这一数据结构。其次，本项目将这些数据纳入一系列研究项目，以测试和评估有关可能阻碍生物医学科学和医疗保健市场创新的经济因素的理论。这些研究的直接目标是阐明具体问题，例如基因专利是否阻碍了科学研究和产品开发。更广泛的目标是开发新的研究设计，随后可应用于其他市场。第三，该项目每月举办一次研究研讨会，重点关注将博士生纳入该议程的目标。本工作坊的目标是建立一个实验室，在新的研究问题上产生线索，并支持学生收集数据和设计经验策略来测试新的假设。更广泛的影响：卫生政策方面的创新障碍对人类健康和福利产生重要影响。此外，对联邦和州政府来说，不断上升的医疗保健费用构成了未来几十年财政政策的主要挑战。现有的最佳估计表明，可以消除30%至40%的卫生支出——每年超过5000亿美元——而不会对健康产生不利影响。确定医疗创新的障碍有可能鼓励开发既能减少卫生支出又能改善健康结果的新技术。

In 2001, Nature and Science published the initial sequences of the human genome. In the decade since, the sequenced human genome has dramatically accelerated biomedical research, and has laid the groundwork for a revolution in medicine. Yet Nature's editorial page in 2001 was focused not on the scientific and medical promise of the sequenced genome, but rather on a controversy over rules governing public access to genomic data. Indeed, by many accounts biomedical researchers frequently struggle to navigate a complex landscape of non-scientific obstacles to scientific research and product development - such as negotiating access to patented and non-patented materials. Successfully translating the science of genomics into improvements in health requires resolving these economic and institutional obstacles. Intellectual merit: This project outlines a long-term agenda of research and education investigating barriers to innovation in health care markets, with a particular focus on the science and medicine of genomics. The project consists of three parts. First, it constructs a series of new datasets to measure the development and diffusion of genomic technologies, and develops open-access programs to enable others to replicate, update, and extend this data construction. Second, this project incorporates these data into a series of research projects to test and evaluate theories about economic factors that may be hindering innovation in biomedical science and health care markets. The direct goal of these studies is to shed light on specific questions, such as whether gene patents are hindering scientific research and product development. The broader goal is to develop new research designs that can subsequently be applied to other markets. Third, this project develops a monthly research workshop focused on the goal of integrating PhD students into this agenda. The goal of this workshop is to build a laboratory - generating leads on new research questions, and supporting students in collecting data and designing empirical strategies to test new hypotheses.Broader impacts: Barriers to innovation in the health policy context have important consequences for human health and welfare. In addition,, for federal and state governments, rising health care costs constitute the principal challenge of fiscal policy in the coming decades. The best available estimates suggest 30 to 40 percent of health spending - more than half a trillion dollars per year - could be eliminated with no adverse health impacts. Identifying barriers to medical innovation holds the potential to encourage the development of new technologies that can reduce health spending while also improving health outcomes.