1. Jose on October 12, 2009 2:07 PM writes...

"So on one hand we have an unproductive big pharma which is cash rich, and on the other a cash-poor university system that has produced fistfuls of Nobel prizewinners. The way forward is obvious: inject the money into university research. Experience tells us this can have major benefits."

The author is also a founder of Ark Therapeutics, a "gene medicine" company!

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427295.500-big-banks-big-pharma-big-problems.html

2. Hap on October 12, 2009 4:03 PM writes...

1) Where's the part about actually making drugs? For example, I don't think Prof. Corey is selling "Nobel 90" as a treatment for cancer and Alzheimer's. The processes to earn a Nobel and actually make effective drugs are...different.

2) Drug companies have already been using the Nobel winners (among many others) as consultants - so their ideas have already been part of the drug companies' successes and the paucity of success recently.

3) I don't think people are going to work at grad student and postdoc wages for what would be, effectively for-profit businesses. Since the efficiency of academics depends part on cheap labor, that advantage would likely diminish. Oh, and where do the students go when they're done? If we're already creating more people with skills than jobs they can occupy now, what happens when schools have a stronger financial incentive to get students, even if they lack the incentive to educate them and there doesn't exist a job market for them to enter?

4) What experience is he speaking of? I'm sure pharma companies don't need any training on how to burn through lots of investor cash and get nothing in return.