In an effort to foster better working relationships between government and industry, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) initiated a program on public-private partnerships (PPP) in 2005. Housed under the Office of Science Policy, the PPP works to “facilitate collaborations that improve the public health through biomedical research.”
Although the research benefits of the collaboration of NIH with private industry are well established, at times structuring these partnerships has proven cumbersome. The PPP acts as a central coordinator helping to aid communication, establishing a set objective for the partnership, and organizing the parameters of the collaboration.
An example of a recent collaboration facilitated by the PPP is the Biomarkers Consortium, consisting of the NIH, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, as well as private industry and nonprofit advocacy groups. The project works to speed the identification, testing, and regulatory acceptance of biomarkers. The existence of the PPP allowed the diverse stakeholders involved in the biomarkers consortium to work collectively toward a shared goal of advancing patient health through new diagnostic tools, technologies, and treatments.
