Market Failure in the Diffusion of User Innovations: The Case of 'Off-Label' Innovations by Medical Clinicians

Medical doctors occasionally discover potentially valuable new off-label uses for drugs during their clinical practice. They apply these to help their own patients, but often have minimal incentives to invest in diffusing them further. If the clinicians do not intend to patent and sell their discoveries – generally difficult and costly to do - the benefits that other clinicians might obtain from adopting the new off-label discoveries are to some...