Pharmaceutical innovation

A call for research prepared by Steve Morgan and Clare Mochrie July 2008 The Program in Pharmaceutical Policy in the UBC Centre for Health Services and Policy Research (CHSPR) is exploring how health and economic goals of innovation policy can be reconciled. [...] Funding and Support CHSPR receives core funding from the BC Ministry of Health, and ongoing support from the University of British Columbia and the UBC College of Health Disciplines. [...] They include the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Commonwealth Fund, Health Canada, the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, and WorkSafeBC. [...] While the pharmaceutical industry accounts for only 2% of the Canadian economy, it is responsible for more than 10% of all Canadian R&D; and although research in other sectors has decreased in recent years, pharmaceutical R&D continues to rise.1 From a public policy perspective, the hope is that this R&D will spur pharmaceutical innovation with benefits to population health and the economy. [...] The pharmaceutical industry has also become a significant sector of the Canadian economy, representing over $9.4 billion in domestic production and accounting for approximately 75,000 jobs in 2005, the most recent year for which data is available.2 The health and economic significance of the pharmaceutical industry have enabled this sector to billions of dollars in public R&D investments and tax i