Biomedicine and Health Innovation - Synthesis Report

 

Over the past few years, the OECD has done important work in a number of areas related to innovation in biomedicine, including on: genetics and genomics, intellectual property rights and collaborative mechanisms and knowledge markets, health research infrastructures, translational research, regulatory policies that affect the approval and uptake of new technologies, and new business models for bringing health products to market, etc. This synthesis report presents the main lessons and policy messages that emerge from this significant body of work and identifies the gaps in today’s understanding of the health innovation process.

It was developed as a thematic contribution to the OECD Innovation Strategy, a comprehensive policy strategy to harness innovation for stronger and more sustainable growth and development, and to address the key societal challenges of the 21st century. The recommendations in this report aim, therefore, to serve as useful reference and resource to those governments, member or non-member, interested in fostering health innovation and improving the economic and health impacts of their biomedical research sector. As innovation is increasingly acknowledged as the main driver of sustainable growth, productivity, and wealth creation, governments have a strong stake in setting up conditions that encourage it.