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Thank you for your coverage of the dismantling of the Cancer Research Institute by Arizona State University (C&EN, Feb. 13, page 86).
I have known George Robert Pettit for 17 years. His lifelong work has been to find cures for diseases such as many forms of cancer through his training in medicinal chemistry, starting with his graduate training with Carl Djerassi at Wayne State University. He has dedicated his life to furthering the science and to establishing the ASU Cancer Research Institute, an organization highly regarded by the National Cancer Institute. Most important, his aim is to get promising treatments into clinical trials for the people who need them and then transfer the treatments to industry to get the antineoplastic agents to even more people.
To me, this underscores the point of a major research university: A professor runs his or her own enterprise within the university. The enterprise must contribute to academic circles and must obtain funding or perish. It is like a small business subsidiary operating within a loose framework of a large multinational conglomerate. But what happens if there is an overlap of products and services, a competition for resources, or a dispute between two CEOs of one very large and one much smaller enterprise?
From my removed perspective, it seems that the current ASU administration desires to terminate the mature natural-products-derived treatments for cancer in order to work on genomics-based approaches at the newly established Biodesign Institute. They want to use the facilities previously established, which are, to a large degree, funded by Pettit through grants, donations, and his own resources. It seems that the administration does not care what consequences this brings in terms of impact on the lives and careers of the scientists at the ASU Cancer Research Institute or the fiscal consequences: loss of grants, future patent revenues, and severance packages, as well as other considerations.
As an alumnus, I don't find it prudent at this time to make monetary contributions to the school, as part may go to fund revenue shortfalls or liabilities arising from these actions.
Phillip R. Coffman
Rowlett, Texas
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