Helping Science and Drug Development to Succeed through Pharma-Academia Partnerships: Yale Healthcare Conference 2013

The theme of the 2013 Yale Healthcare Conference was “Partnerships in Healthcare:Cultivating Collaborative Solutions.” The April conference brought togetherleaders across several sectors of health care, including academic research,pharmaceuticals, information technology, policy, and life sciences investing. Inparticular, the breakout session titled “Taking R&D Back to School: The Riseof Pharma-Academia Alliances” centered on the partnerships between academicinstitutions and pharmaceutical companies. Attendees of the session includedmembers of the pharmaceutical industry, academic researchers, and physicians, aswell as graduate and professional students. The discussion was led by Dr. ThomasLynch of Yale University. Several topics emerged from the discussion, includingresources for scientific discovery and the management of competing interests incollaborations between academia and the pharmaceutical industry.