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Report

Financing Cancer Discovery Research: Models to Accelerate Breakthroughs

Portrait of Hadly Clark

Hadly Clark

Director, FasterCures, Milken Institute Health
Hadly Clark is a director at Milken Institute’s FasterCures. She is an experienced health care professional focused on the intersection of health and technology. Clark leads digital health and oncology-focused initiatives exploring innovative diagnostic technologies and advancements in anticancer treatments.
A smiling professional women wearing a black blazer against a white background,

Yun Fu

Associate Director, Catalytic Capital, Milken Institute
Yun Fu is an associate director, Catalytic Capital, at the Milken Institute, where she works with the Financial Innovations Lab team. She contributes to the research, development, and execution of Financial Innovations Labs, which explores innovative financing models to address global social and economic challenges.
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Cancer discovery research produces the knowledge, data, and tools that underpin advances in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. This work can take years, often before a commercial opportunity becomes clear. Funding cycles do not always provide the continuity and flexibility that the work needs, putting research teams, shared resources, and promising discoveries at risk.

The report proposes four new financing and partnership models to sustain cancer discovery research:

  • Establish a precompetitive discovery consortium. Pool multiyear funding, data, and expertise around shared scientific questions. Agreed rules for access, publication, and credit would help organizations collaborate before competing on specific products.
  • Launch a philanthropic carry fund. Invite investment managers to pledge part of their share of fund profits to an independent discovery grant pool. Awards would follow scientific review, with no financial return expected from the research.
  • Create a milestone-based discovery fund. Support research beyond individual grants through three tracks: continuing productive work, preparing data and tools for wider use, and readying selected discoveries for commercial development. Independent scientific review would guide funding decisions.
  • Issue a cancer discovery bond. Bring committed future funding forward by borrowing against binding multiyear philanthropic pledges. Donor payments would cover repayment and financing costs, independently of research outcomes.

Download the report to see how these models could work and what it would take to put them into practice.