Last year UCSF was the first school to get a partnership with Pfizer Inc.—worth up to $85 million over five years. Faculty and students will work alongside Pfizer’s top scientists and use the company’s resources. Pfizer gets access to any breakthroughs that come from the shared research. UCSF’s Susan Desmond-Hellmann has encouraged the university to forge relationships with the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. But potential conflicts of interest are a growing concern at many schools, as shrinking state and federal funding makes them more dependent on pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to fund research. Some schools are forcing staff to be more transparent about their industry ties, while some academics are trying to cut ties altogether to keep their research pure.

Read full article [here].
by Hannah Karp, The Wall Street Journal.

Posted: February 14th, 2012, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.