The simple answer to your questions1 is that results of basic research performed in academia belong to mankind, not to the market. If the boundary between academia and market is not strictly defined, the openness and integrity of universities will be questioned. This may in the end even imply that the financial support to science decreases, as federal support may dwindle: Are taxpayers interested in supporting basic research that is not reported openly--and in ways that may only increase the wealth of those already wealthy?
Ove Lundgren, MD, PhD
Emeritus Professor of Physiology
Göteborg University
Box 432
SE 405 30 Göteborg
Sweden
Björn Folkow, MD, PhD
Emeritus Professor of Physiology
Göteborg University
