New Research Explores Forces Shaping Global Biopharma Innovation

EMERYVILLE, Calif., Nov. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A new collection of working papers from the Berkeley Policy Institute's Eira Initiative offers fresh insights on the forces shaping medical innovation around the world.

Presented at the Eira Initiative's "Competing for the Cure" conference in Paris on October 29-30, the research explores how intellectual property protections, pricing policies, tax incentives, and regulatory frameworks influence the development of new treatments. The findings provide a data-driven evidence base to help policymakers navigate complex decisions about intellectual property, innovation, and patient access to new medicines.

"Across the globe, policymakers face difficult questions about how to improve access to medicines while sustaining the research that produces new treatments," said Bowman Heiden, co-director of the Eira Initiative. "Answering those questions requires evidence about how policies work in practice. Our new research can help policymakers assess the trade-offs and make more informed decisions."

Highlights from the 18 new working papers include:

• Incentives for rare disease research. Simona Gamba and Laura Magazzini find that a significant decline in orphan drug designations followed reductions to the federal Orphan Drug Tax Credit in the United States.
• International pricing frameworks. Sandra Barbosu and Stephen Ezell find that U.S.-originated medicines averaged 39 FDA approvals annually in 2020-2024, compared with eight for European-originated medicines. The authors examine how pricing policies and other factors contributed to this gap.
• Regulatory reform and China's growing innovation capacity. Can Huang, Lina Lai, and Keyu Chen explore how faster, more predictable drug reviews and alignment with international standards helped China expand innovative drug development.
• Sharing the costs of innovation. Alden Abbott and Satya Marar examine how trade agreements and regulatory reforms could increase other wealthy countries' contributions to U.S.-led pharmaceutical research. Their analysis explores approaches to addressing foreign pricing policies while preserving incentives for U.S. innovation.
• Price controls and medical innovation. Duane G. Schulthess and Harry P. Bowen report a significant decline in research into additional uses of small-molecule cancer medicines following the enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States. In Europe, they find associations between more restrictive pricing policies, lower venture capital investment, and longer delays in access to new medicines.

Additional working papers examine the roles of public health emergencies, artificial intelligence, and India's biopharmaceutical sector in global research and development. The research will be featured in the forthcoming book, "Competing for the Cure: Intellectual Property, Innovation Policy, and Competitiveness in Biopharmaceutical Ecosystems," edited by Jonathan Barnett, Bowman Heiden, and Margaret Kyle.

The full collection of 2026 working papers is available here.

About the Eira Initiative
The Eira Initiative is an applied policy research initiative undertaken in association with the Berkeley Policy Institute. The Initiative seeks to ground innovation policy in the biopharmaceutical, medical device, and life sciences industries in fact-based and economically informed analysis that moves beyond narrative, rhetoric, and anecdote. Learn more at eirainitiative.org.

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SOURCE Eira Initiative