Biomedical research with potential benefit to patients often doesn’t reach the market because of lacking product development expertise combined with inadequate funding. In particular, the translational phase from basic scientific research towards product development may be inadequately funded by public funds, and is too early for private, commercial investors to step in. This is a missed opportunity because later stage investors bring not only funding but also product development expertise and focus to the process. HUMAN+ is established to make the development of new pharmaceutical products and diagnostics more effective and to accelerate the development process. HUMAN+ organises structural availability of international experts and collaboration among public- and private funders to foster effective project selection and product development. http://www.humanplus.org