Value that industrial collaborations bring to research and education efforts in universities: perspective of a professor
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EDITORIAL
Open Access
Value that industrial collaborations bring to research and education efforts in universities: perspective of a professor working in the field of development of therapeutic proteins John F Carpenter The development (“D” in “R&D”) component for therapeutic protein products includes efforts to understand and improve bioprocessing methods (e.g., filling pump operation for vials and syringes, freeze-drying to create more stable product), product degradation pathways, and rational means to improve protein stability, new analytical methods, drug delivery methods, and investigation of key product parameters affecting product safety and efficacy. Research in these areas occurs in pharmaceutical companies and in universities. Often in companies, the focus is on doing the work that is needed to get a given product into clinical trials and on the market, whereas in universities, the focus is usually on more fundamental, mechanistic understanding of key issues such as factors causing protein aggregation and how to characterize and minimize this type of degradation. Therefore, there are numerous natural, synergistic collaborations between pharmaceutical companies and academic researchers, which provide for more rapid advancement of the field and relevant education of students than if the two groups worked independently. There is a long tradition of such productive and valuable collaborations between industry scientists and professors in pharmaceutical sciences departments. For this commentary, based on my two decades of experience with such collaborations, I will describe my views on the advantages of such partnerships and some of the pitfalls. To start with, it is important to emphasize that a productive academic lab can rarely function and thrive on industry funding alone. There is also a need for funding from foundations or federal agencies to broaden the scope of the work in the lab, as well as to provide Correspondence: [email protected] Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Center for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO 80045, USA
more long-term financial support for the lab. Typically, pharmaceutical companies will commit informally to funding a given project for at least a few years, i.e., for the duration of the research for a thesis project. However, often the formal collaborative research agreement will cover 1 year, with the anticipation that the project will be renewed annually. On the other hand, usually the project is “pre-approved” before the formal project proposal is sent to the company. This situation arises because the company researchers initiate the discussion about a funded collaboration by contacting the professor about a research project area. During these discussions, the groups work together to formulate a mutually agreeable outline for the project, with the understanding that funding should be available from the company. Then, it is just a matter of putting together a few pages of the technical proposal and a budg
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