Translational medicine: can it really facilitate the transition of research “from bench to bedside”?

Translational medicine is intended to facilitate the transition of basic science results to clinical practice, thereby sharing major aspects of clinical pharmacology. Biomarkers need to be developed to achieve this, and their predictive values need to be assessed. Despite all the attempts to increase output from costly pharmaceutical research investments, all stakeholders complain of the decreasing efficiency of drug development processes, and expensive late attritions seem to be seen at increasing rates. How can translational medicine improve this apparent mismatch between effort and tangible result for daily medical practice? What is missing, and where do we stand?