Trump Wants Drug Makers, Insurers, & Hospitals To Disclose Prices!

[Vas Deferens]

(02-13-2019, 01:17 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: As an accountant for a public institution I can say that's not how it tends to work. If a professor has grant funded research, they have to separate that from their teaching gig. We have professors with separate computers in their offices for their research. As for facilities, have you ever noticed these big research institutions with buildings and wings named after individuals or organizations? Yeah, there is a reason for that.

Grant funded positions and projects don't receive funds from tuition, they often have to rent space in a facility if it is publicly funded, it's just a whole different thing. I deal with internal controls, so I have to look at how departments are safeguarding university (public) assets and that they are not intermingling with grant sponsored programs.

Appreciate your insight and perspective here.  You are clearly more qualified than I to speak on the topic and I'm glad to hear there is a framework in place to curb abuse.  I only have second hand knowledge from a friend who worked, as an undergraduate, on pharma R&D projects at a prestigious public university.  His view was that the 'funding' often didn't come close to the profits of initial and ancillary products developed.  This same individual later went on to work on similar projects at an even more prestigious PRIVATE university where he believed the transaction was more balanced because of equity retained by the institution in their R&D efforts.

To that end, I'm quite certain these companies would not structure their investments as such unless it came out in their favor.  I would personally prefer our public universities receive more funding for R&D that helps the greater good in the first place.  But that would require our politicians acknowledge the geologic record and the existence of math.  Flying spaghetti monsters can't play in that realm.  

Question for you since you may have your bankers visor on.  Do you happen to know how grants from companies to public institutions are inevitably booked?  Wouldn't doubt if costs associated for these programs / facilities end up getting written off as charitable donations, making them even sexier.