---
id: "claim-traditional-funding-insufficient"
type: "claim"
source_timestamps: ["§ 4. Extend AMC research investments beyond early-stage science.", "¶16"]
tags: ["finance", "r-and-d", "structural-barriers"]
related: ["concept-traditional-amc-model", "concept-amc-strategic-financing"]
confidence: "high"
testable: true
enrichment_status: "supported in concept — multiple sources agree traditional academic funding is insufficient for the full continuum and that pharma/VC partners are usually needed"
speakers: ["Anaeze C. Offodile II", "Kushal T. Kadakia", "Yashodhara Dash", "Whitney Snider", "Joseph C. Wu", "Selwyn M. Vickers"]
sources: ["tail2"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-tail2"
originDay: 2
articleStem: "hbr-tail-131-medical-drug-discovery"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/04/u-s-medical-centers-need-a-new-model-for-drug-discovery-and-development"
sourceTitle: "U.S. Medical Centers Need a New Model for Drug Discovery and Development"
---
# Traditional AMC funding sources cannot support late-stage clinical development

The standard financial pillars of U.S. AMCs — **philanthropy, reinvestment from hospital operating margins, and government grants (e.g., NIH)** — are **structurally insufficient** to fund the expensive, later stages of drug development and commercialization, causing many viable early-stage innovations to **stall**. This is the rationale for [[concept-amc-strategic-financing]] and the funding half of [[concept-traditional-amc-model]].

**Confidence (as stated in source):** high · **Testable:** yes.

**Enrichment verdict — supported in concept:** multiple sources support the idea that traditional academic funding sources are insufficient for the full drug-development continuum and that academia usually needs **pharma, VC, or other partners** to move beyond early-stage work.