Health system venture capital divisions, such as UPMC Enterprises, are playing a vital and growing role in commercializing scientific discoveries that could lead to new treatments for diseases.
That’s because academic researchers and their medical centers are increasingly the originators of new drug targets. And this trend has set the stage for health systems to become key early investors and commercialization engines, according to Matthias Kleinz, DVM, PhD, Senior Vice President of Translational Sciences at UPMC Enterprises.
“There’s a notion across the industry that we’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what medicine is capable of achieving to treat disease,” Dr. Kleinz said. “Organizations like ours bring unique resources and expertise to efforts that seek to turn groundbreaking scientific research into life-changing therapies for patients around the world.”
Dr. Kleinz was one of two leaders from health system investment divisions who provided insights and commentary for a new white paper, “A New Player in Biotech Investing,” which was published by the Center for Connected Medicine (CCM).
The paper identifies 15 U.S. health systems that are investing in biotech and therapeutics startup companies. The CCM also defines four common characteristics of these health systems:
- Sufficient scale to dedicate resources to venture investments
- Relationships with academic researchers
- Dedicated venture capital organizations
- A focus on internal spinouts
While venture capital divisions at health systems have garnered attention in recent years for their digital health investments, little information has been available about the health systems and academic medical centers that are playing a larger role in commercializing medical research that could become the next blockbuster drug.
Learn more about the white paper and download a copy from the CCM website.
