Business School seeks answer to $40bn riddle
Latest press releasesMillions of dollars spent on biomedical research could be saved each year if problems of communication and knowledge sharing between scientists and big business could be overcome, according to UK-based specialists in innovation and managing knowledge.
No-one knows the true value of the 'lost' research for the simple reason that it never makes it to market, says Jacky Swan, professor of organisational behaviour at the prestigious Warwick Business School.
Statistics from the USA show that in the pharmaceutical sector alone, where the total research and development bill is $40 billion a year, only 10 per cent of new drugs make it to market. An inability to exploit scientific breakthroughs in the sector is causing concern at the highest levels in the EU. In response, the Economic and Social Research Council and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council have awarded a grant of £500,000 to a team at Warwick Business School in the Innovation, Knowledge & Organisational Networks (IKON) Research Unit to find out why knowledge transfer is so difficult.
IKON's research programme - 'The evolution of biomedical knowledge: interactive innovation in the UK and US' - aims to show how knowledge can be better applied in practice. The research team, consisting of Jacky Swan, Maxine Robertson, Mike Bresnen, and Markus Perkmann at Warwick, and Sue Newell at Bentley College, Boston USA, will focus on specific innovation projects that involve collaboration between scientists, clinicians and pharmaceutical companies. Comparing conditions in the UK and US, the research team will help to find ways of better exploiting the commercial potential of scientific breakthroughs that lead to new diagnostic and therapeutic treatments.
"Many breakthroughs in science don't make it into medical practice because the knowledge isn't effectively transferred. One of the main reasons for this is that scientists from different disciplines can find it difficult to work together," says Swan.
"However there is now a growing emphasis on trying to develop interactive forums where scientists can interact with one another, as well as with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies."
Maxine Robertson cites the human genome project as an example - decades of competitive research in Britain and the USA cracked the code, raising expectations of a significant expansion of major breakthroughs in the treatment of illnesses such as diabetes and cancer. But the reality is that it is taking significantly longer to generate the medical advances that might result from the work.
"The British government has set up five 'genetic knowledge' parks around the UK with the intention of promoting collaborative working arrangements in order to find practical applications," says Robertson.
"Researchers are recognising that it's not just other scientists that they have to work with; they have to learn to deal with lawyers, pharmaceutical firms and clinical practitioners."
Even before work has started on the programme, according to Newell, the research has attracted attention from the US National Institute of Drug Abuse which is keen to exploit any new treatments that might overcome addiction, and discover how to overcome the reluctance of many US doctors to prescribe them.
"In theory, with all of the research taking place and the breakthroughs that are being made, the biomedical market should be expanding. But it's not," says Bresnen. "We hope to find out why."
ends
For more information please contact:
Professor Jacky Swan on 024 7652 4271
or email jacky.swan@wbs.ac.uk
No-one knows the true value of the 'lost' research for the simple reason that it never makes it to market, says Jacky Swan, professor of organisational behaviour at the prestigious Warwick Business School.
Statistics from the USA show that in the pharmaceutical sector alone, where the total research and development bill is $40 billion a year, only 10 per cent of new drugs make it to market. An inability to exploit scientific breakthroughs in the sector is causing concern at the highest levels in the EU. In response, the Economic and Social Research Council and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council have awarded a grant of £500,000 to a team at Warwick Business School in the Innovation, Knowledge & Organisational Networks (IKON) Research Unit to find out why knowledge transfer is so difficult.
IKON's research programme - 'The evolution of biomedical knowledge: interactive innovation in the UK and US' - aims to show how knowledge can be better applied in practice. The research team, consisting of Jacky Swan, Maxine Robertson, Mike Bresnen, and Markus Perkmann at Warwick, and Sue Newell at Bentley College, Boston USA, will focus on specific innovation projects that involve collaboration between scientists, clinicians and pharmaceutical companies. Comparing conditions in the UK and US, the research team will help to find ways of better exploiting the commercial potential of scientific breakthroughs that lead to new diagnostic and therapeutic treatments.
"Many breakthroughs in science don't make it into medical practice because the knowledge isn't effectively transferred. One of the main reasons for this is that scientists from different disciplines can find it difficult to work together," says Swan.
"However there is now a growing emphasis on trying to develop interactive forums where scientists can interact with one another, as well as with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies."
Maxine Robertson cites the human genome project as an example - decades of competitive research in Britain and the USA cracked the code, raising expectations of a significant expansion of major breakthroughs in the treatment of illnesses such as diabetes and cancer. But the reality is that it is taking significantly longer to generate the medical advances that might result from the work.
"The British government has set up five 'genetic knowledge' parks around the UK with the intention of promoting collaborative working arrangements in order to find practical applications," says Robertson.
"Researchers are recognising that it's not just other scientists that they have to work with; they have to learn to deal with lawyers, pharmaceutical firms and clinical practitioners."
Even before work has started on the programme, according to Newell, the research has attracted attention from the US National Institute of Drug Abuse which is keen to exploit any new treatments that might overcome addiction, and discover how to overcome the reluctance of many US doctors to prescribe them.
"In theory, with all of the research taking place and the breakthroughs that are being made, the biomedical market should be expanding. But it's not," says Bresnen. "We hope to find out why."
ends
For more information please contact:
Professor Jacky Swan on 024 7652 4271
or email jacky.swan@wbs.ac.uk
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