WMLM1319 - CME/CMLE - LMU 18 (Fundamentals) Financial - Foundations in Business Planning as a Basis for Financial Management-WMLM1319

WMLM1319 - Pre-Reading 2

Pdf Summary

The document discusses the economic challenges and innovative strategies related to biobanking, as outlined by experts like Jim Vaught, PhD, from the National Cancer Institute, and Frank Simione of ATCC. Biorepositories, which collect and store human biospecimens, face financial pressures similar to other businesses, exacerbated by dwindling government contracts and healthcare reform. Significant costs are involved in maintaining large, ultracold storage facilities. <br /><br />To address these challenges, institutions are exploring more cost-effective storage alternatives such as dry storage methods, which eliminate the need for expensive freezer maintenance. For instance, the CDC uses sample cards to store blood spots at room temperature. Furthermore, technological advancements have reduced the volume of samples needed for genomic and proteomic analyses, potentially lowering storage costs.<br /><br />Cost recovery is crucial for economic viability. Non-profit institutions like NIH are limited in how they can recover costs due to restrictions. However, some institutions like the University of Pennsylvania are adopting cost-recovery systems, charging investigators for using biobank facilities. For-profit organizations like ATCC focus on charging for high-demand products and leveraging biochemical expertise to add value, such as offering genetic sequencing.<br /><br />Centralizing operations is another strategy under consideration. It involves creating a national network that would enable multiple institutions to share samples, making rare disease research more feasible. While centralization offers economic advantages like better standardization and larger coordinated collections, it requires significant initial investment and faces logistical challenges.<br /><br />Despite current financial constraints, there is optimism that future improvements in budgetary conditions might enable better economic strategies or public-private partnerships to support national network initiatives, thereby providing broader and more effective biobanking solutions.

Keywords

biobanking

economic challenges

innovative strategies

Jim Vaught

Frank Simione

cost-effective storage

cost recovery

centralization

public-private partnerships

biorepositories