Investing For A Global Cause - Medical Research Funding
Medical research is an expensive scientific profession. It costs a lot of money to collect data and facts for the purpose of research, development and distribution. Funding for this purpose is mainly from sponsors and from donations by the public. For high profile researches the government issues tenders to interested parties to invest in the research and research related activities.
Researching for medical miracles is a very slow process. The Researcher first needs to come up with a good action plan for creating a drug, which is then handed over to the peers for testing. Once the drug is tested and found free of side effects and other elements, tenders are distributed among different entrepreneurs and among the public either directly or by distributing shares. An auction is held to claim the distribution rights of the drug.
The Medical research industry is a multi side profitable industry. The companies that claim the distribution rights get a huge profit from dealers by selling the drug to them. People who invest in the drug manufacturing companies by holding their shares get annual income or dividends. This ensures that there is no or minimal loss and a booming research industry.
The good relation between the company and the investing public continues as long as the company shows a positive balance sheet in their financials. The problems start when the company runs into trouble and if the drug being researched turns out to be a failure. Though the failed drug may have scope for further development, investors get irritated, which is understandable because of the huge loss they incur. Does this mean that the research process will have to be stalled and the company shut? This is where other funding options are made available. The bank is a good option which comes to the aid of these loss incurring companies. These banks, in co-operation with the respective government provide loans to the company, which can be repaid once the company is stable once again. Another option is the United Kingdom clinical research organisation. These organisations sponsored by the United Kingdom are available across the globe.
The entire funds invested by the general public are not entirely used in the research alone. A part of it will go towards development of new ideas by collecting important facts. The risk percentage in investing in research is very high, depending on the success of the product. If the product turns out to be successful, then the investors are sure to get double the amount they invested.
In addition to the funding from the two primary sources, Corporate and Government, there is also a small amount of funding obtained from certain charitable organizations, in cases of research for cure of socially sensitive diseases like Cancer and AIDS.
Research and development is an important organisation and in some country it is designated a separate ministry. Research and development is also responsible for the development of the country, in a way. While countries like USA provide more than 25% of their income towards Research, other developed countries do not provide more than 4-5 % towards research, while most of the developing countries collect revenue as tax to fund researches.