Medical innovation as it stands today is fundamentally unsustainable. There is a widening gap between what biomedical research promises and the impact that it is currently achieving, in terms of patient benefit and health system improvement.

This book highlights the global problem of the ineffective translation of bioscience innovation into health system improvements and its consequences, analyses the underlying causative factors and provides powerful prescriptions for change to close the gap. It contrasts the progress in biomedicine with other areas of scientific and technological endeavour, such as information technology, in which there are faster and more reliable returns for society from scientific advance. It asks searching questions about whether society is right to expect so much from biomedicine and why we have become accustomed to such poor returns.

Throughout the book, techniques such as stratified medicine, open innovation, adaptive development and personalised adherence are discussed and described in terms accessible to the non-specialist, and their impact on the innovation gap explored.

By using examples in which bottlenecks have prevented progress, such as dementia and antibiotic-resistant infections, and in which these barriers have been overcome, such as HIV treatment, Bioscience - Lost in Translation? lays out a strategy for advancing the innovation process, presenting suggestions for how health systems can move from being passive recipients of innovation to being active participants in development.