Department of Applied Economics and Law, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, USA; Corresponding author.
James Campbell
School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, USA
Carlisle P. Runge
Binera, Inc. consulting for Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, Washington DC, USA
Reena V. Kartha
College of Pharmacy, Center for Orphan Drug Research. Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, USA
Special combined efforts addressing rare diseases should apply economic principles and methods to maximize returns to research and investment. Four opportunities exist: (1) exploiting treatment spillovers; (2) encouraging institutional networking and knowledge-sharing; (3) recognizing shared molecular and genetic etiologies; (4) organizing resulting clusters and baskets for scaling trials, research, diagnosis and treatment.
