Economics of Biobanking: Business or Public Good? Literature Review, Structural and Thematic Analysis

Abstract

This paper reviewed the relevant scientific literature on the business and economics of biobanking to explore key themes and paradigms. The structural properties of the literature were investigated, such as key authors, journals, studies, as well as co-citation and co-authorship networks; the study revealed that the research on business and economics is a niche area within the vast biobanking literature. The research is concentrated in a relatively small number of journals, institutions, and countries, which is rather surprising given the substantial public investment in and concerns about biobank sustainability. The structural analysis also suggested major themes in research on biobanking business and economics and noted shifts in focus on specific themes. The commercialisation of samples is more acknowledged than before but under the condition of equitable sharing of benefits across various stakeholders. Most biobanks are heavily subsidised by the public sector and are considered public goods rather than business enterprises. This is OK, but underutilisation of specimens and low rates of cost recovery suggest that the current mainstream operating model is hardly sustainable. With many biobanks maturing, long-term sustainability became a key topic of the discussion on biobanking trends.

Understanding the value of biobank attributes to researchers using a conjoint experiment

“…Despite their significant value in support of research, biobanks are not always financially sustainable. Sustainability challenges could force biobanks to store biospecimens of lower quality or destroy bio-samples over time because of the cost of storage 7 , 10 . These impediments are faced particularly by non-profit biobanks because they rely heavily on funding from external sources and often charge researchers only a handling fee, including retrieval and shipping of biospecimens, as a cost 11 .…”

A leap of faith: building the trust in human biobanks

“…Given that there are various types of HBs, it is important to clarify that the subsequent discussion is exclusively focused on public HBs. The rationale for concentrating on public trust within public HBs is as follows: (1) A majority of HBs fall within the category of public HBs ( Baláž et al, 2022 ); (2) Compared to private HBs, public HBs are more focused on scientific research rather than obtaining funds or increasing profits. The funds of public HBs mainly come from public taxes, and public support and trust are crucial to their successful operation ( Tozzo and Caenazz0, 2020 ); (3) Public HBs are the biobanks most closely related to the majority of the populace.…”