It's more than a little reminiscent of the history of chemotherapy. All the commonly used drugs, the mustards, the folate antagonists, the vinca alkaloids, the

It's more than a little reminiscent of the history of chemotherapy. All the commonly used drugs, the mustards, the folate antagonists, the vinca alkaloids, the platinum drugs, the taxanes, camphotecins, anthracyclins and nitrosoureas, and combination therapy were discovered at universities, financed with public funds and brought to market by pharmaceutical companies. The same questions apply, the same dilemmas. Should research funded by taxpayers' money be free, or should it be licensed to private entities, so that the university can continue its mission. Should a university be allowed to do so in the face of shrinking public funds? Should a private entity be allowed to profit from publically funded research? These aren't easy questions to answer, but they must be thought over before giving an answer.