Quote:
Originally Posted by tadd
Rick:
You are quite wrong on this one. When I was in grad school at Vanderbilt the folks across the way were doing the COX2 inhibitor studies. That was researched and developed to trials at a university.
|
I'm sure every university hosts some level of clinical trials, because college students need the cash. When I was in college, there were ads everywhere to earn $1000 for getting injected with this or that bug while you stayed in quarantine and were observed for a few days. I'm not saying that's not useful research, but it's not the same thing as universities inventing the drugs on the taxpayers' dime and then pharma cos. charging an arm and a leg once they get a patent.
I have a buddy who's made gazillions on a few drugs he patented. He purposely based his company in Bethesda, MD, where he could (when it was still legal to do so) use NIH and FDA employees as consultants. His costs would have been a lot higher, if he'd had to hire people away as full-time employees. And keeping close to the pulse of the FDA also made things easier for him. That stuff is crazy expensive and the talent doesn't come cheap. That guy write 10 figure checks all the time for years before what he's working on brings in a dime.