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HIGHLIGHTS FROM INDUSTRY–ACADEMIA COLLABORATIONS ANNOUNCED THIS YEAR and lead to a publication bias in favour of a company’s product. “You should not in any Company Academic institutions Therapeutic area way accept the notion that these giant insti- Pfizer Seven New York medical institutes Biological drugs tutional agreements are without tremendous Sanofi University of California, San Francisco Ageing, diabetes and inflammation danger,” he says. Gilead Yale University, Connecticut Cancer Furthermore, academia’s growing appetite for industry funds could tip the balance of GlaxoSmithKline University of Manchester, UK Inflammation power at the negotiating table. “The pressures and AstraZeneca on a university president are intense,” says AstraZeneca National Institute of Health and Cancer, inflammation and respiratory and Howard Brody, a bioethicist at the University Medical Research, France autoimmune diseases of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. He Takeda Kyoto University, Japan Obesity and schizophrenia advocates the creation of an external organiza- tion to oversee large-scale collaborations with their pursuit of active collaboration: ear- collaboration will harm academic credibility. the drug industry. “We have to remember that lier this year, Sanofi announced similar agree- Some hospitals and universities, including institutions have conflicts of interest, just like ments. Pepys, meanwhile, is working directly Harvard University, have cracked down on individuals do,” he cautions. with GSK scientists to develop a drug against industry relationships after it emerged over Kaitin, however, says that industry is just as amyloidosis, a disease caused by a build-up of the past few years that researchers had received desperate to collaborate, if not more so. “Earn- amyloid protein. consulting and speaking fees from companies ings at these companies are falling through The various deals also aim to smooth over with a vested interest in their research. the floor and investors are losing confidence,” tensions between industry and academia. Research agreements do not generally raise he says. ■ Duncan Holmes, who heads GSK’s Discovery the same conflict-of-interest alarms as speaking Partnerships with Academia initiative, says fees, for example, which can be seen as market- that the company will give research partners ing a product for a company, says Eric Camp- CORRECTION a year’s notice if it chooses to end a collabo- bell, a sociologist at Harvard Medical School The News story ‘Egypt invests in science’ ration and that, if it that happens, academics in Boston. Also, many institutions vet the lan- (Nature 474, 266; 2011) wrongly identified would be free to continue with the project. To guage in the contracts, he notes, and industry Susan Hockfield as a member of the board ease worries about publication restrictions, money is deposited into institutional accounts of trustees appointed to run a proposed many agreements stipulate the terms for pub- rather than given directly to investigators. non-profit science city near Cairo. She is not lication ahead of time. Yet some academics But Campbell also notes that industry col- a member of this board. wonder whether the trend towards industry laborations can restrict or delay publication