The majority of increased pharmaceutical innovation following a GWAS discovery occurs not from the direct finding, but through spillovers to biologically related genes.
When we measure innovation after a GWAS discovery, most of the action happens in neighboring genes—those connected through shared biological pathways. The closer the biological relationship, the stronger the effect.
This means traditional metrics that only count direct outcomes miss the majority of the value created by GWAS research.
Implication for NLM
This framework provides evidence-based tools to demonstrate the true return on genomic research investments—capturing value that current metrics miss and providing stronger justification for continued funding of basic science.