Reproductive medicine and research: contract laboratories vs. the university-based researcher

Many years ago, most clinical trials were sponsored by pharmaceutical companies conducted in the university community. Among academicians there was a general disdain for pharmaceutical projects and their funding, the projects were often assigned to junior faculty members or fellows, and these projects were given low priority by the principal investigator. However, as managed care began to erode the university profit margin and funding from the National Institutes of Health began to tighten, “drug studies” generated heightened interest. At the same time, the pharmaceutical industry flooded the development pipeline with new drugs. Wall Street demanded ever-increasing returns on investments and because pharmaceutical patents have limited life spans, speed became the currency of the day.