Business Planning in Biobanking: How to Implement a Tool for Sustainability

Abstract

Worldwide, the sustainability of public health systems is challenged by the increasing number and cost of personalized therapies. Quality biological samples stored in biobanks are essential for the provision of appropriate health services and also act as a reservoir for the development of precision medicine and biotechnological innovation. Economic sustainability is a crucial factor in the maintenance of biobanking activities. Traditionally, management of biobanking is performed by health researchers and/or clinicians whose knowledge of economic issues is inadequate. On the other hand, familiarity with financial instruments used by economists is not often accompanied by a consolidated understanding of biobanking features. This article aims to be a guide for the implementation of business plans in biobanking and proposes models for the facilitation of their preparation, thus contributing to recognition of the importance of efficient management of resources of public health services.

Ethical Tissue: A Bioresource Specialising in Broad Prospective Supply of Tissue from a Wide Range of Participants

“…When Ethical Tissue was founded in 2007 the aims were a) to provide a researcher led tissue supply service across most diseases and conditions, b) to make it as simple as possible for researchers to access tissues, c) to maximise tissue supply and minimise tissue banking, "supply not store" and d) to be self-sustaining through a cost recovery model [1] Sustainability and sound business planning has become increasingly important due to constrained budgets in higher education institutes and elsewhere [2,3]. Currently ET recovers over 80% of its costs through service charges to researchers.…”

The Emerging Landscape of Epidemiological Research Based on Biobanks Linked to Electronic Health Records: Existing Resources, Analytic Challenges and Potential Opportunities

“…Literature about biobanks explores feasibility and implementation for establishing biobanks, including business plans and models for facilitating biobank creation, 43 how to recruit and obtain consent (particularly among particular groups of patients such as cancer patients), [44][45][46] and the use of electronic consent in biobanking. 47 Increasingly, biobanks are augmenting their survey data with EHR database connections.…”

The 4 I’s of Entrepreneurship: A Study of the Entrepreneurial Perspectives behind A Failed Large-Scale Distributed Research Infrastructure

“…It is also true that biobanks have been subject to considerable political concern, where the economics of biobanking initiatives have not been well understood, often resulting in substantial costs (Ciaburri, Napolitano, & Bravo, 2017;Gee, Oliver, Corfield, Georghiou, & Yuille, 2015;. Hence, there has been an increased political incentive to expand development and operation resources to ensure long-term sustainability of biobanks, while at the same time maximising their impact (Meijer et al, 2012;Vaught, Rogers, Carolin, & Compton, 2011).…”