Travis Whitfill

Oct 24, 2023 | issues.org | Travis Whitfill |Mariana Mazzucato |Vol. XL

Travis Whitfill and Mariana Mazzucato make a case that demands the attention of both leaders of the Advanced Research Project Agency for Health (ARPA-H) and policymakers: the agency’s innovation must focus not only on technology but also finance. Breaking from decades of public finance for science and technology with few strings attached, new policy-thinking is needed, they argue, if taxpayers are to get a dynamic and fair return on their ARPA-H investments.

Aug 14, 2023 | issues.org | Travis Whitfill |Mariana Mazzucato |Jay Lloyd |Vol. XXXIX

US drug companies turn taxpayer-funded innovation into astronomical profits. A new agency focused on health innovation could shift the rewards of medical advances to benefit public health. Years before the pandemic began, the US government was a major investor in what would become COVID-19 vaccines. It supplied nearly $350 million to build technologies crucial to mRNA vaccines.