Some professors, though, say the connections they have with biotechnology firms actually help their teaching mission by allowing them to impart more knowledge to their students.

Gilbert, who co-founded Myriad Genetics in 1992 in addition to Biogen, says his teaching is better because of his connections.

"As a faculty member, [you] learn a whole aspect of the world that you didn't know before," Gilbert says. "You are exposed to a whole set of medical questions."

"This stimulates my thinking," he says. "I am more aware of how pharmaceuticals are made."

Jack L. Strominger, Higgins professor of biochemistry and former chair of the department of biochemistry and molecular biology, agrees that the impact on teaching is "positive and enormous."

"I still think I get much more out of it than the company," says Strominger, who has worked on the advisory board of several biotechnology companies during the last 30 years.

"The scientists present their work and I get educated," he says. "You use every bit of knowledge you have in academic teaching and this broadens your ability to teach as well as to advise students about the future."

Knowles lists the general benefits of the close relationships as "intellectual stimulation, cutting-edge work, relevance to society, emergence form the ivory tower, sharing of ideas and materials, helpful contacts for students, future jobs [and] speeding the flow of basic science to helpful products."

And many in the industry agree that those are the essential benefits.

"I think many professors have made important contributions to starting the biotech [industry] in Massachusetts," says Janice G. Pero, former associate professor of biology and current president of Omni-Gene Bioproducts, Inc.

"I don't think this has detracted from their role at the University," she says. "It has been a win-win situation for all parties."

Benefits Outweigh Costs

Organogenesis Inc.

Despite the concerns, nearly all of the professors interviewed still say they believe the benefits of biotech relationships outweigh the costs. One significant benefit is the ability to develop drugs that are of practical use to society. Sometimes, not patenting the drug can actually have disastrous consequences.

As a case in point, Dr. Richard J. Wurtman, an MIT professor who serves as professor of neuroendocrine regulations at the joint Harvard-MIT Health Services and Technology Division, is the co-founder and a director and adviser of Interneuron Pharmaceuticals.