Rescuing the Lost in Translation.

The translation of medically relevant academic inventions that could transform public health has been notoriously difficult, stemming largely from cultural differences been academia and industry. New initiatives to kindle academic entrepreneurship and establish stronger public/private partnerships are helping to align these differences and accelerating the translation of promising new therapies.

Plasma proteomic associations with genetics and health in the UK Biobank.

The Pharma Proteomics Project is a precompetitive biopharmaceutical consortium characterizing the plasma proteomic profiles of 54,219 UK Biobank participants. Here we provide a detailed summary of this initiative, including technical and biological validations, insights into proteomic disease signatures, and prediction modelling for various demographic and health indicators. We present comprehensive protein quantitative trait locus (pQTL) mapping of 2,923 proteins that identifies 14,287 primary genetic associations, of which 81% are previously undescribed, alongside ancestry-specific pQTL mapping in non-European individuals. The study provides an updated characterization of the genetic architecture of the plasma proteome, contextualized with projected pQTL discovery rates as sample sizes and proteomic assay coverages increase over time. We offer extensive insights into trans pQTLs across multiple biological domains, highlight genetic influences on ligand-receptor interactions and pathway perturbations across a diverse collection of cytokines and complement networks, and illustrate long-range epistatic effects of ABO blood group and FUT2 secretor status on proteins with gastrointestinal tissue-enriched expression. We demonstrate the utility of these data for drug discovery by extending the genetic proxied effects of protein targets, such as PCSK9, on additional endpoints, and disentangle specific genes and proteins perturbed at loci associated with COVID-19 susceptibility. This public-private partnership provides the scientific community with an open-access proteomics resource of considerable breadth and depth to help to elucidate the biological mechanisms underlying proteo-genomic discoveries and accelerate the development of biomarkers, predictive models and therapeutics1.

An integrated, systems-wide approach is needed for public-private partnerships to drive genetic innovation in crops.

Public-private partnerships are key to successfully translate knowledge to products, but current frameworks do not foster the systems-wide approach required to improve crops to meet the agricultural production challenges of the 21st century.

Translational success of fundamental virology: a VSV-vectored Ebola vaccine.

Ebola virus disease (EVD) caused by Ebola virus (EBOV) is a severe, often fatal, hemorrhagic disease. A critical component of the public health response to curb EVD epidemics is the use of a replication-competent, recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV)-vectored Ebola vaccine, rVSVΔG-ZEBOV-GP (ERVEBO). In this Gem, we will discuss the past and ongoing development of rVSVΔG-ZEBOV-GP, highlighting the importance of basic science and the strength of public-private partnerships to translate fundamental virology into a licensed VSV-vectored Ebola vaccine.

Can the SBIR and STTR programs advance research goals?

With diminishing grant support for traditional funding in immunology, can the small-business program leverage a research program? The small-business grants programs offered by the US National Institutes of Health and other organizations support high-risk, early-stage technology commercialization at small businesses.

Project NextGen: Developing the Next Generation of COVID-19 Vaccines and Therapeutics to Respond to the Present and Prepare for the Future.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemiology and product landscapes have changed considerably since onset of the pandemic. Safe and effective vaccines and therapeutics are available, but the continual emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 variants introduce limitations in our ability to prevent and treat disease. Project NextGen is a collaboration between the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, part of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, that is leveraging public-private partnerships to address gaps in the nation's COVID-19 vaccine and therapeutic capabilities. Targeted investments will advance promising next-generation candidates through the most difficult phases of clinical development to encourage further private sector interest for later stage development and commercial availability. New commercial vaccines and therapeutics that are more durable and effective across variants will improve our fight against COVID-19 and transform our response to future threats.

Hybrid cord blood banking in a private-public-partnership: Women's perspectives.

BACKGROUND: The increasing demand for umbilical cord blood (UCB) used in stem cell transplantation led to the establishment of cord blood (CB) banks worldwide. These include public foreign donor banks and private family-directed donor banks. Recently, our department has introduced a third banking model within a private-public-partnership. This hybrid banking allows for storage of family-directed CB units, while also getting Human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-typed and included in the national stem cell donor registry. So if the need arises, the HLA-compatible CB unit can be released to an unrelated recipient as a foreign donor stem cell graft. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate women's perspectives on the different CB banking options as well as retrospective satisfaction with their decisions. METHODS: We performed a prospective survey study in postpartum women, using a validated questionnaire. RESULTS: A total of 157 women were included in this survey study; 68% of them decided to have their UCB stored or donated. Among those women, 25% of them opted for hybrid storage, 72% of respondents stored UCB publicly, and 3% decided for private family-directed storage. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows the potential of hybrid banking as an attractive UCB storage option, as an alternative to family-directed banking rather than a substitute for public donation. Hybrid storage potentially combines advantages of family-directed banking as well as unrelated CB donation expanding the number of registered CB units available for transplantation and giving every pregnant woman the possibility to store UCB.

Ensuring universal access to quality care for persons with presumed tuberculosis reaching the private sector: lessons from Kerala.

BACKGROUND: More than half of the people with Tuberculosis (TB) symptoms in India seek care from the private sector. People with TB getting treatment from private sector in India are considered to be at a higher risk for receiving suboptimal quality of care in terms of incorrect diagnosis and treatment, lack of treatment adherence support with a high loss to follow-up rate that could eventually increase their risk of drug resistance. The current study aims at documenting the approach and efforts taken by the Kerala state to partner with the private health care delivery providers for ensuring quality TB care to the people with presumed TB reaching them. METHODS: A case study approach was adopted with review of all available literature followed by five Key Informant Interviews to understand the case through a primary descriptive exploration. Grounded theory approach was used to generating the single theory of the case itself that explains it. RESULTS: Kerala state has taken a variety of interventions to ensure universal access to TB care for citizens reaching the private sector with documented improvement in the quality of TB care. Key learnings from these initiatives were (i) patients need to be at the centre of partnerships, (ii) good governance is essential for ensuring Universal Health Coverage in a mixed health system, (iii) data intelligence is required to guide partnerships, (iv) identification of the correct 'problems' is crucial for effective design of partnerships and (v) a platform for meaningful dialogue of key stakeholders is needed. CONCLUSION: Kerala experience demonstrated that if governments take a proactive role in engaging the private sector, in an informed and evidence-based way, they can leverage the advantages of the private sector while protecting the public health interest.

Government-enterprise green collaborative governance and urban carbon emission reduction: Empirical evidence from green PPP programs.

The reliance solely on the government or enterprises to promote climate governance is contingent upon the vested interests of economic entities and the regulatory bodies' efficiency in governance. Can the model of government-enterprise green collaborative governance evolve into a long-term mechanism for addressing the climate crisis and achieving the goals of sustainable development? By crawling data on public-private partnerships (PPP), employing ChatGPT to identify green PPP projects, and building a generalized difference-in-differences framework based on the Guidance on Building a Green Financial System issued in 2016, this present study investigates whether the involvement of private capital in government-led environmental and climate governance can effectively facilitate government-enterprise green collaborative governance, thereby mitigating urban carbon emissions. The study finds government-enterprise green collaborative governance can significantly reduce urban carbon emissions. The conclusion remains valid even after several rounds of robustness tests, including removing the influence of pertinent climate policies, adjusting the settings of independent and dependent variables, and removing self-selection issues. Heterogeneity tests show, on the first hand, the carbon emission reduction effect of government-enterprise green collaborative governance differs due to the differences in the characteristics of green PPP(Pubic-private partnership) projects such as project return mechanism, project investment volume, and project cooperation term; on the other hand, the carbon emission reduction effect also shows heterogeneity with various urban characteristics such as geographical location, city type and city size. Mechanism tests indicate government-enterprise green collaborative governance affects urban carbon emissions mainly through structural effects, technological effects and co-investment effects. This paper offers a valuable framework for effectively promoting environmental and climate co-governance between governmental bodies and enterprises, while enhancing the market's role in resource benefit allocation within climate governance to mitigate the risks associated with climate change.

Quality improvement in public-private partnerships in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Public-private partnerships (PPP) are often how health improvement programs are implemented in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs). We therefore aimed to systematically review the literature about the aim and impacts of quality improvement (QI) approaches in PPP in LMICs. METHODS: We searched SCOPUS and grey literature for studies published before March 2022. One reviewer screened abstracts and full-text studies for inclusion. The study characteristics, setting, design, outcomes, and lessons learned were abstracted using a standard tool and reviewed in detail by a second author. RESULTS: We identified 9,457 citations, of which 144 met the inclusion criteria and underwent full-text abstraction. We identified five key themes for successful QI projects in LMICs: 1) leadership support and alignment with overarching priorities, 2) local ownership and engagement of frontline teams, 3) shared authentic learning across teams, 4) resilience in managing external challenges, and 5) robust data and data visualization to track progress. We found great heterogeneity in QI tools, study designs, participants, and outcome measures. Most studies had diffuse aims and poor descriptions of the intervention components and their follow-up. Few papers formally reported on actual deployment of private-sector capital, and either provided insufficient information or did not follow the formal PPP model, which involves capital investment for a explicit return on investment. Few studies discussed the response to their findings and the organizational willingness to change. CONCLUSIONS: Many of the same factors that impact the success of QI in healthcare in high-income countries are relevant for PPP in LMICs. Vague descriptions of the structure and financial arrangements of the PPPs, and the roles of public and private entities made it difficult to draw meaningful conclusions about the impacts of the organizational governance on the outcomes of QI programs in LMICs. While we found many articles in the published literature on PPP-funded QI partnerships in LMICs, there is a dire need for research that more clearly describes the intervention details, implementation challenges, contextual factors, leadership and organizational structures. These details are needed to better align incentives to support the kinds of collaboration needed for guiding accountability in advancing global health. More ownership and power needs to be shifted to local leaders and researchers to improve research equity and sustainability.

Comparison of the market share of public and private hospitals under different Medical Alliances: an interrupted time-series analysis in rural China.

BACKGROUND: China initiated the Medical Alliances (MAs) reform to enhance resource allocation efficiency and ensure equitable healthcare. In response to challenges posed by the predominance of public hospitals, the reform explores public-private partnerships within the MAs. Notably, private hospitals can now participate as either leading or member institutions. This study aims to evaluate the dynamic shifts in market share between public and private hospitals across diverse MAs models. METHODS: Data spanning April 2017 to March 2019 for Dangyang County's MA and January 2018 to December 2019 for Qianjiang County's MA were analyzed. Interrupted periods occurred in April 2018 and January 2019. Using independent sample t-tests, chi-square tests, and interrupted time series analysis (ITSA), we compared the proportion of hospital revenue, the proportion of visits for treatment, and the average hospitalization days of discharged patients between leading public hospitals and leading private hospitals, as well as between member public hospitals and member private hospitals before and after the reform. RESULTS: After the MAs reform, the revenue proportion decreased for leading public and private hospitals, while member hospitals saw an increase. However, ITSA revealed a notable rise trend in revenue proportion for leading private hospitals (p < 0.001), with a slope of 0.279% per month. Member public and private hospitals experienced decreasing revenue proportions, with outpatient visits proportions declining in member public hospitals by 0.089% per month (p < 0.05) and inpatient admissions proportions dropping in member private hospitals by 0.752% per month (p < 0.001). The average length of stay in member private hospitals increased by 0.321 days per month after the reform (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: This study underscores the imperative to reinforce oversight and constraints on leading hospitals, especially private leading hospitals, to curb the trend of diverting patients from member hospitals. At the same time, for private hospitals that are at a disadvantage in competition and may lead to unreasonable prolongation of hospital stay, this kind of behavior can be avoided by strengthening supervision or granting leadership.

Citizen monitoring of waterways decreases pollution in China by supporting government action and oversight.

Water pollution is a persistent problem in China, in part, because local governments fail to implement water quality standards set by national and provincial authorities. These higher authorities often lack regular information about the immediate and long-term achievement of remediation targets. Accordingly, central authorities have encouraged nongovernmental organizations to monitor local governments' remediation efforts. This study examines whether nongovernmental monitoring of urban waterways improves water quality by facilitating oversight of local governments or instigating public action for remediation. We randomly assigned urban waterways in Jiangsu province previously identified for remediation to be monitored by a partner nongovernmental organization for 15 mo. We further randomized whether the resulting information was disseminated to local and provincial governments, the public, or both. Disseminating results from monitoring to local and provincial governments improved water quality, but disseminating results to the public did not have detectable effects on water quality or residents' pursuit of remediation through official and volunteer channels. Monitoring can improve resource management when it provides information that makes local resource managers accountable to higher authorities.

Supporting the nation in crisis: the military health system's role in enhancing public health capacity through public-private partnerships.

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused significant global disruptions to the healthcare system, which was forced to make rapid changes in healthcare delivery. The pandemic necessitated closer collaboration between the US civilian healthcare sector and the military health system (MHS), resulting in new and strengthened partnerships that can ultimately benefit public health and healthcare for the nation. In this study, we sought to understand the full range of partnerships in which the MHS engaged with the civilian sector during the COVID-19 pandemic and to elicit lessons for the future. METHODS: We conducted key informant interviews with MHS policymakers and advisers, program managers and providers who were affiliated with the MHS from March 2020 through December 2022. Key themes were derived using thematic analysis and open coding methods. RESULTS: We conducted 28 interviews between December 2022 and March 2023. During the pandemic, the MHS collaborated with federal and local healthcare authorities and private sector entities through endeavours such as Operation Warp Speed. Lessons and recommendations for future pandemics were also identified, including investment in biosurveillance systems and integration of behavioural and social sciences. CONCLUSIONS: The MHS rapidly established and fostered key partnerships with the public and private sectors during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic experience showed that while the MHS is a useful resource for the nation, it also benefits from partnering with a variety of organizations, agencies and private companies. Continuing to develop these partnerships will be crucial for coordinated, effective responses to future pandemics.

Collaborative governance in a primary health care partnership in Papua New Guinea.

INTRODUCTION: Collaboration in primary health care is recommended to achieve global health goals. Public-private partnerships (PPP) are one means of collaboration. Our study examined collaboration in a case study PPP for primary health care in Western Province, Papua New Guinea (PNG). METHODS: Interviews with key informants involved in the PPP were conducted and key programme documents were reviewed. Data were coded and deductively analysed using the collaborative governance model developed by Emerson, Nabatchi and Balogh. RESULTS: The key features of the case study PPP that were highlighted by the collaborative governance model were: identification of partners, trust, procedural arrangements, and leadership. DISCUSSION: We identified four lessons of significance in the practical establishment and implementation of a partnership in a complex and challenging setting such as PNG: the need to (i) prioritise in-person collaboration and communication, (ii) engage dynamic individuals to lead the partnership, (iii) encourage relationships across all sectors and actors, and (iv) remain flexible and adapt to local cultural and context. CONCLUSION: Collaborative governance offers a practical framework to understand, assess and strengthen collaboration in multi-stakeholder partnerships in the health sector.

A Nationwide Network of Health AI Assurance Laboratories.

Importance: Given the importance of rigorous development and evaluation standards needed of artificial intelligence (AI) models used in health care, nationwide accepted procedures to provide assurance that the use of AI is fair, appropriate, valid, effective, and safe are urgently needed. Observations: While there are several efforts to develop standards and best practices to evaluate AI, there is a gap between having such guidance and the application of such guidance to both existing and new AI models being developed. As of now, there is no publicly available, nationwide mechanism that enables objective evaluation and ongoing assessment of the consequences of using health AI models in clinical care settings. Conclusion and Relevance: The need to create a public-private partnership to support a nationwide health AI assurance labs network is outlined here. In this network, community best practices could be applied for testing health AI models to produce reports on their performance that can be widely shared for managing the lifecycle of AI models over time and across populations and sites where these models are deployed.

Data sharing as the foundation of discovery: ADNI and breakthroughs in Alzheimer's disease.

The COVID pandemic has shown that when the research community comes together, we can conquer the most complex biomedical challenges. Collaboration and teamwork among federal agencies, private organizations, and researchers have been crucial in the development of vaccines and therapeutics against COVID. Possibly the first example of such cross-functional collaboration is the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), the largest and longest continually monitored Alzheimer's study. ADNI was designed and operated as a public-private partnership, managed by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health. This article shows how recent successes in the Alzheimer's field are directly a result of ADNI's open and transparent sharing of knowledge, expertise, and resources, which have allowed researchers to advance their understanding of Alzheimer's and tackle challenges in a relatively short period of time. ADNI's approach to open-source innovation also served as a model for addressing other complex diseases and led to numerous collaborative research initiatives. HIGHLIGHTS: The Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) was designed, structured, and operated as a public-private partnership, managed by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health. The recent successes in the Alzheimer's field are directly a result of ADNI's efforts. Open and transparent sharing of knowledge, expertise, and resources allowed researchers to advance their understanding of Alzheimer's and tackle challenges in a relatively short period of time.

Impact of public-private partnerships investment and FDI on CO2 emissions: A study of six global investment countries.

This study investigates the impact of public-private partnerships investment in energy and FDI on environmental quality in global investment countries during 1995-2018. Economic growth, technological innovations and consumption of clean energy are also considered as additional determinants of environmental quality. The study applied advanced panel econometric models. Our empirical results affirm the evidence of a long-run association between environmental quality and its determinants. Specifically, economic growth as well as clean energy use improves quality of environment by lowering carbon emissions. Public-private partnerships investment in energy, FDI and technological innovations decrease carbon emissions. Energy consumption (generated from fossil fuel) increases carbon emissions. Heterogeneous causality evidence indicates the presence of a unidirectional causality relation from carbon emissions to public-private partnerships investment in energy and a feedback causality occurs between consumption of clean energy and CO2 emissions. This empirical evidence provides new insights for both policymakers and governments to support public-private partnership investments in energy for the improvement of quality of environment in global investment countries.

Government subsidy and benefit distribution mechanisms for transportation PPP projects: An evolutionary game perspective.

Public-private partnerships (PPP), as an important model for collaboration between the public and private sectors, is an urgent and critical topic due to the serious financial losses of governments involved in transportation PPP projects in recent years. Current research focuses on the government subsidy model, in which the effective implementation of government subsidies relies on the design of incentives for stakeholder behavior. Although the positive externalities are strong, they are prone to the problem of "free riding," which leads to low project performance and challenges in compensating for the government's financial losses. Therefore, this study proposes a novel dynamic subsidy mechanism that can be adjusted based on actual changes in transportation demand and that is linked to project performance. We use evolutionary game theory to construct a two-party evolutionary game model of the government and social capital, focusing on the stability and influencing factors of these interactions. Our research unveils that reaching specific thresholds in both the incentive coefficient and benefit distribution ratio induces an "positive management-negative management" shift in the behavior of involved parties, leading to enhanced project outcomes. Notably, fluctuations in operational quality substantially enhance the efficiency of the active management of private sector, with no discernible impact on the subsidy efficiency of the government. Therefore, our study provides a theoretical framework for improving the revenue allocation and government subsidy mechanism, which has theoretical and practical implications for enhancing the effect of government incentives and improving the quality of operational social capital.