Table 2 Challenges to translational medicine at all levels
From: The advancement of translational medicine—from regional challenges to global solutions
Compartment | Process | Problem |
|---|---|---|
Academia | Biomedical research | Drive for specialization and insufficient integration of high and low throughput |
Intellectual property, publications and funding | Competition | |
Animal models | Often a marked difference between animal and human physiology | |
Human studies | Inherent variability among individuals, limited access to patients and samples, and ethical and legal constrictions | |
Industry | Interaction with academia | Fewer and increasingly complex leads, difficulty in choosing which leads are worth pursuing, and lack of resources for manufacturing and toxicity studies |
State of small biotechnology companies | High volatility and increasingly stringent requirements of product maturity for venture capital support | |
Endogenous culture | Risk aversion and obsolete standard operating procedures | |
Government | Increased demand for regulation | Increased costs of health care |
Economic recession | Decreased national and international funds for research |
