Commercialization begins before research ends

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) funds impactful research and discovery that accelerates breakthrough technologies into the marketplace. Our goal is to deliver these benefits to patients, providers, and communities in years, not decades.

The Office of Commercialization helps prepare successful innovations for transition, follow-on funding, or other partnerships so that the work can continue beyond the agency’s initial investment.

We serve Program Managers in their work with entrepreneurs, startups, academic institutions, investors, and industry partners to identify commercialization needs and challenges, strengthen transition strategies, and prepare innovations for adoption beyond the laboratory.

About the Office of Commercialization

Commercialization begins in program development and continues throughout the performance period. Every funded opportunity must answer the same questions.

Who needs it?
Who will adopt it?
Who will pay for it?
How will it reach the people it was designed to help?

These questions matter at every stage. They keep us focused on the people our investments are meant to serve – patients, providers, and communities that stand to benefit.

Our office brings together expertise from across the commercialization continuum including experts from the investment community, senior advisors in regulatory planning, reimbursement, and intellectual property, and staff versed in product development and commercialization readiness.

We work alongside Program Managers and performers conducting cutting-edge research to help them navigate decisions that determine whether an innovation becomes a product, a platform, or a company. Our role is to accelerate that critical path from discovery to impact.

Our services

Commercialization Strategy and Market Intelligence

We understand competitive landscapes, define value propositions, identify customers, and build commercialization strategies that align with technical milestones.

Customer and Stakeholder Discovery

We engage clinicians, patients, health systems, industry leaders, investors, and strategic partners to validate assumptions before they become expensive mistakes.

Regulatory and Clinical Strategy

We evaluate regulatory pathways, develop evidence strategies, prepare for agency engagement, and help build Target Product Profiles that support future adoption.

Product Development

We provide guidance on product design, human factors, verification and validation, manufacturing readiness, and supplier strategy.

Reimbursement and Market Access

We help teams evaluate reimbursement strategies, payer evidence requirements, health economics, and outcomes needed for sustainable adoption.

Investor Readiness and Commercial Partnerships

We help strengthen business models, refine market positioning, improve investor communications, and prepare for discussions with investors and other strategic partners.

Intellectual Property Strategy

We evaluate patent landscapes, strengthen licensing strategies, prioritize intellectual property, and prepare technologies for transition into the marketplace.

How we work

Every funded research opportunity follows a different path of discovery. The principles of commercialization do not. We use a structured framework to evaluate readiness across factors that matter most:

Commercial pathway
Intellectual property
Technical maturity
Regulatory readiness
Market development
Execution capability
Financial sustainability
Public health impact

The framework helps performers identify gaps early, prioritize milestones, and make informed decisions as technologies mature. Progress becomes measurable. Risk becomes visible. Commercialization becomes intentional.

Office of Commercialization Voices

The Entrepreneurs-in-Residence support has been helpful to us in developing our commercial strategy and answering questions around market adoption, reimbursement, and business development. Additionally, we have kicked off GMP manufacturing of a new agent and are moving towards IND approval.

Trace Biosciences

The Entrepreneur-in-Residence provided continuous and thorough feedback on our pitch deck. We also invested substantial time and effort developing different elements of the pro forma financials.

AusculTech Dx

The OC team has been an invaluable partner in the successful construction, launch, and execution of our first ARPA-H programs. The team actively engages with Program Managers, listening to and anticipating our needs.

Given that successful commercialization of cutting-edge biotechnology requires more than superior science, these services will likely be the difference between success and failure for ARPA-H.

Ross Uhrich, DMD, MBA

We gained significant insights... including a Presub application submission to the FDA. We are looking forward to the FDA Presub meeting preparation sessions, especially now that we have removed the possibility of the 510k pathway.

Yaya Scientific

The OC helped me identify blind spots that could keep my performers from bringing their developments to market.

Ileana Hancu, Ph.D.

Outcomes

Commercialization succeeds when both technical progress and commercial progress move forward. Our measure of success is not a published journal article or patent. Success is when:

A new technology is adopted.
An underserved market grows.
A company is launched.
A platform is acquired or deployed.
A medical breakthrough reaches the people waiting for it.

The future of health depends on shortening the time from bench to bedside. The Office of Commercialization helps make that future possible.