Drug research done at our public universities

[mac2]

http://www.buffalo.edu/news/9097

http://www.buffalo.edu/news/8825

This is a hint of the drug research done at our public universities. It benefits corporations (some international) yet they don't want to pay for it or and avoid paying taxes.

It is my hometown and alumni university. Buffalo, New York is a huge research town.

The university could certainly use the money. The tax payers refunded in lower drug costs, etc.

[Celebration]

1. really?

Don't most public and private universities now have whole departments that specialize in patenting methods that their scientists have developed? I admit I am no expert in this area, but I thought a lot of this research was done as a sort of joint venture.

You can be sure that the universities are at least not losing money in the deal. And, again I thought there were spinoffs from colleges to develop certain things for profit, and for the benefit of the university.

I could be wrong, and I would love to hear from anyone who knows more about this.

[mac2]

3. No drug company could pay for all the staff, equipment, buildings, etc.

required. Public tax payer funds pay more than their share.

Believe me I used to work in research for NY State and UB. My salary and that of my boss were state paid but the grant paid for some equipment, chemicals,etc. It was usually short term along with other research projects.

A million dollar grant does not go far today.

A grant for $5 million back in the 1980s for five years didn't go far. It was Trauma research through UB at a county hospital. They did the ground breaking research about trauma patients coming into the ICU. They proved your body changes biochemically when under stress within 48 hours. I was one of the state paid workers in the laboratory and ICU.

What good was it today? They send patients home after surgery not caring about the trauma on the body. If you have problems come back?

[mac2]

6. I did inquire as to that very question but have not received

an answer yet from the head of the research departments at the university. The web site does claim some collaboration but that is it.

[lurky]

2. Most innovations in science and engineering began

as government funded research, at both public and private universities. Pharmaceutical research is a classic example. The Internet is another classic example, along with computer hardware, fiber optics, and pretty much anything else big you can think of. In addition to civilian research funding, there is defense industry research, funded by the military, the results of which often get spun off into consumer technology (see the Internet).

These are all paid for on the public dime, but usually end up being used for profit by private companies. There's a reason why the high-technology industries cluster in places like Silicon Valley and the 128 corridor around Boston. They are where military and university research are or were happening. The Bay Area had Stanford, Berkeley, The NASA Ames research lab, and Lawrence Livermore/Berkeley. Massachusetts had MIT, Harvard, and the Air Force research lab at Hanscom AFB. So many of the private companies were started by people who took the ideas and contacts they acquired (on the taxpayer's dime) at those research institutions and spun them off into startups.

Some people consider this system to be a massive transfer of public resource to private ownership. I am not sure if I feel that strongly about it. Regardless, if a lot of research is happening in Buffalo, it should have a positive effect on the local economy. My impression is that Buffalo needs it.

[Celebration]

4. NIH grants, etc.

I haven't considered the issue carefully, but getting something in return for taxpayer dollars in NIH research for example, is an idea that should be entertained. Now that countries are investing directly in the U.S. through "sovereign wealth funds" maybe we should be using direct grants from the NIH, at least, to form our own kind of "sovereign wealth fund." Of course we would have to watch it carefully to make sure the revenues don't get spent in any type of black ops...............

[mac2]

5. You are right.

It is part of our Common Wealth.

[Warpy]

7. For profit companies just don't do the type of basic research

that people with NIH grants are free to do. For profit research needs to generate a profit down the line, meaning most of it is dedicated to coming up with competitors for NIH licensed breakthrough drugs given to other companies. That's why new types of drugs generally come out in twos or threes. Some of those second generation drugs are better and some are worse.

Don't expect to see any breakthroughs from drug companies onshore, in other words. Expect to see them in countries with socialized medicine, but not here. Look to universities working on a combination of NIH grant money, private industry money, and state funds to provide all our breakthroughs.

The problem has always been that the licensing of the breakthrough drug to a company has been at a nominal rate. Companies are just not paying the taxpayers back for this research.