Reducing Risk in Research Based Health Technology Startups

Abstract

The potential public benefit of university-based health technology research is based on quickly moving research from the laboratory to the clinic. Curiosity led research typically drove funding for basic science research. Increasingly, biomedical research in the university setting must accommodate the pragmatic needs of the health care system to test innovations in terms of patient outcomes and financial impact on providers and payers. These new commercialization-funding models are causing a cultural shift in biomedical research programs. This sharper focus on clinical translation incents researchers to pursue partnerships outside the laboratory or university.

Granting organizations, both government and private, are creating Lean Startup-based funding mechanisms that direct research teams to seek business mentors and “get out of the building” to test assumptions about their business model. This market-led approach to commercializing research is often disconnected from the original research grantors` target deliverable. However, more recently granting programs that correlate grantee research outcomes to commercial success are rewarded with increased funding from their government sponsors, even in times of constrained federal budgets.

The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) has benefited from these trends and has a proven track record of moving combination drug and device products and devices into the market. When consulting with faculty researchers, Georgia Tech VentureLab uses a combination of grant-funded, start-up education followed by proof-of-concept funding and access to manufacturing and pre-clinical infrastructure to de-risk the product and team before spinning out new, health technology companies.