Creating Shared Value through Strategic Biobanking : Public-Private Partnerships in Healthcare

Abstract: Societies are plagued by growing healthcare expenditures and budgetary constraints. The strategy for solving the issue has been heavily debated, with proposed solutions such as Valuebased healthcare (VBHC), Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) and improved medical treatments. A novel concept that aims to improve medical treatment is strategic biobanking. Strategic biobanking is the act of saving biological samples and clinical data for future research. Access to strategic samples can speed up future clinical trials and studies, provide researchers with more useful research material, enable more thorough analyses of biomarkers, facilitate faster drug development, and increase the power of both retrospective analyses and precision medicine. This thesis studies the shared value effects of a strategic biobanking PPP by drawing on the theoretical fields of VBHC, PPP and Creating Shared Value (CSV). Specifically, the effects of hospital organisational structure, regulatory framework and public interest on strategic biobanking PPPs was studied. The research was carried out through a single holistic case study of Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden and multiple pharmaceutical companies, and data was collected through semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was carried out in accordance with the grounded theory framework. The researchers find that regulatory structure can limit the options when crafting the business model and the industry value proposition for a strategic biobanking PPP. Some strategies on how to deal with these restraints are outlined. Furthermore, the research highlights the importance of longitudinal data-sets and how a hospital organised according to the VBHC principles is more suitable for implementation of longitudinal sampling routines. Finally, the research shows that that the concept of CSV can act as guidance for private partner decision making to increase public interest. By adopting principles of transparency regarding financial incentives and motivations, an industry partner can garner increased trust with the general public as well as their public partner. The shared value effects are pronounced, and the study finds that a strategic biobanking PPP moves the boundary for what is scientifically possible for all stakeholders in the healthcare domain.