Researchers from Boston University School’s of Medicine (BUSM), Management (SMG), Law (LAW), and Office of Technology Development (OTD) along with collaborators from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) believe that public-sector research has had a more immediate effect on improving public health than was previously realized. The findings, which appear as a Special Article in the February 10th issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, have economic and policy implications.

The study identified 153 drugs from 75 different Public Sector Research Institutions (PSRI) that received FDA approval between 1970 and 2009.  Of these drugs, 46% received priority review from the FDA, indicating that they offered a substantial improvement over existing treatments, compared with 20% of drugs developed solely by the public sector that received priority review during that time. Additionally, the article states that, “Virtually all the important, innovative vaccines that have been introduced during the past 25 years have been created by PSRIs.”

Current and former Boston University researchers were responsible for four of those 153 new drugs, one of which was developed based on research conducted at the University and Boston Medical Center.

For more information see: New England Journal of Medicine article, BU press release, Los Angeles Times, Business Week, NewsDay, Us News, Wall Street Journal.