Last fall, all eyes darted to the concept of venture philanthropy – using venture dollars to empower patient advocacy efforts – when the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation sold its royalty rights to the Vertex drugs it funded for $3.3 billion.

A sort of forced collaboration between academia and industry helped the CFF usher in the development of the CF drug Kalydeco – and the concept of venture philanthropy, said Preston W. Campbell, the executive vice president for medical affairs at the CFF. It wasn’t easy, however – academics didn’t respect industry, and vice versa.

Image: http://medcitynews.com