Britannica Sources used in this answer

How do public research institutions and private pharmaceutical companies work together?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

A lab technician wearing protective gloves and face shield lifts a rack of deep-frozen cells from a cryopreservation tank emitting vapor in a laboratory setting. — pharmaceutical industry A technician withdrawing deep-frozen cells for in vitro culture at a laboratory of a German pharmaceutical company.

The collaboration between public research institutions and private pharmaceutical companies is a symbiotic relationship that drives medical advancement.

Publicly funded institutions, such as universities and government agencies like the National Institutes of Health, focus primarily on basic research. Scientists in these settings explore fundamental chemistry, biochemistry, and physiology to understand natural processes without the immediate goal of creating a commercial product. The results of this research are published in scientific journals, providing a foundation of knowledge that identifies potential drug targets, such as enzymes or receptors.12

Private pharmaceutical companies then leverage this publicly generated knowledge to undertake the complex, resource-intensive work of drug discovery and development. By employing university-trained scientists, these companies transform basic scientific discoveries into medicine and manufactured products. This division of labor ensures that fundamental scientific inquiry is supported by public and nonprofit funding, while the private sector focuses on the technical and commercial development required to bring new treatments to society.12