Innovation in Action: Bringing New Ideas to Life
Fast Facts
Every medication started as an idea. Our new Scroll-Driven Narrative tells the story of how pharmaceutical companies and the federal government work together to turn ideas into innovative medical treatments.
The companies can develop new drugs using patented discoveries made by federal researchers. This gives companies a head start and helps federal research make a bigger impact.
But the government can do a better job of measuring, tracking, and documenting these benefits.
For example, we found 34 drugs that were developed using National Institutes of Health research. But a lack of publicly available information made finding this difficult.
Illustration from our Scroll-Driven Narrative
Illustration of a pharmacist handing medication to a person
Highlights
This Scroll-Driven Narrative tells the story of how pharmaceutical companies and the federal government work together to turn ideas into innovative medical treatments. It is a companion to GAO’s report Biomedical Research: NIH Should Publicly Report More Information about the Licensing of Its Intellectual Property, GAO-21-52. This product highlights key themes from GAO’s prior work—particularly the lack of publicly available information on licensing of intellectual property developed through National Institutes of Health (NIH) research. It also highlights recommendations from GAO’s prior work and NIH efforts to implement them.
For more information, contact Candice N. Wright at wrightc@gao.gov.