Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Canada’s Stem Cell Corporation: Aggregate Concerns and the Question of Public Trust

  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper examines one nascent entrepreneurial endeavour intended by Canada’s Stem Cell Network to catalyze the commercialization of stem cell research: the creation of a company called “Aggregate Therapeutics”. We argue that this initiative, in its current configuration, is likely to result in a breach of public trust owing to three inter-related concerns: conflicts of interest; corporate influence on the university research agenda; and the failure to provide some form of direct return for the public’s substantial tax dollar investment. These concerns are common to many efforts to commercialize academic science but are rendered particularly acute in this case given the therapeutic promise of stem cell research and the considerable number of resources related to stem cell research in Canada, which Aggregate Therapeutics is expected to pool. We do, however, believe that the company can be altered to guard against a violation of the public’s trust, and so we present concrete modifications to its structure, which we contend should be given immediate consideration.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Atkinson-Grosjean J.: 2006, Public Science, Private Interests: Culture and Commerce in Canada’s Networks of Centres of Excellence (University of Toronto Press, Toronto, ON)

    Google Scholar 

  • Atkinson-Grosjean J.: 2002, Science Policy and University Research: Canada and the USA, 1979–1999, International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management 2(2), 102–124

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bakan J.: 2004, The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power. (Penguin, Toronto, ON)

    Google Scholar 

  • Baylis, F.: 2005, ‘Impossible Dreams’, University Affairs (August-September), 14–16

  • Becker A. J., E. A. McCulloch, J. E. Till: 1963, Cytological Demonstration of the Clonal Nature of Spleen Colonies Derived from Transplanted Mouse Marrow Cells, Nature 197(4866), 452–454

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bekelman J. E., Y. Li, C. P. Gross: 2003, Scope and Impact of Financial Conflicts of Interest in Biomedical Research: A Systematic Review, Journal of the American Medical Association 289(4), 454–465

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bok D.: 2003, Universities in the Marketplace: The Commercialization of Higher Education. (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ)

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyle J.: 2003, The Second Enclosure Movement and the Construction of the Public Domain, Law and Contemporary Problems 66, 33–74

    Google Scholar 

  • Brody B.: 1996, Public Goods and Fair Prices: Balancing Technological Innovation with Social Well-being, Hastings Center Report 26(2), 5–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brower V.: 1999, Human ES Cells: Can You Build a Business around Them? Nature Biotechnology 17, 139–142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Capron A. M., R. Schapiro: 2001, Remember Asilomar? Reexamining Sciences Ethical and Social Responsibility, Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 44(2), 162–169

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Callahan D.: 1999, False Hopes: Overcoming the Obstacles to Sustainable, Affordable Medicine. (Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ)

    Google Scholar 

  • Downie, J.: 2003, ‘Contemporary Health Research: A Cautionary Tale’, Health Law Journal (Special Issue), 1–20

  • Eisenberg R. S.: 1996, Public Research and Private Development: Patents and Technology Transfer in Government-Sponsored Research, Virginia Law Review 82, 1663–1727

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Etzkowitz H.: 2003, Research Groups as ‘Quasi-Firms’: The Invention of the Entrepreneurial University, Research Policy 32, 109–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher D., J. Atkinson-Grosjean, D. House: 2001, Changes in Academy/Industry/State Relations in Canada: The Creation and Development of the Networks of Centres of Excellence, Minerva 39, 299–325

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher D., J. Atkinson-Grosjean: 2002, Brokers on the Boundary: Academy-industry Liaison in Canadian Universities, Higher Education 44, 449-467

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freeman E. R.: 1984, Strategic Management (Pitman, Boston, MA)

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman M.: 1962, Capitalism and Freedom (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL)

    Google Scholar 

  • Giebel L. B.: 2005, Stem Cells – A Hard Sell to Investors, Nature Biotechnology 23, 798–800

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gold R., T. A. Caulfield, P. N. Ray: 2002, Gene patents and the standard of care, CMAJ 167(3), 256

    Google Scholar 

  • Guston D., D. Sarewitz: 2002, Real-Time Technology Assessment, Technology in Society 24(1–2), 93–109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haerlin B., D. Parr: 1999, How to Restore Public Trust in Science, Nature 400(5 August), 499

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herrera S.: 2005, Leaders and Laggards in the Stem Cell Enterprise, Nature Biotechnology 23, 775–777

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howard K.: 2004, Global Biotech Expansion Taking Cues from Bayh-Dole, Nature Biotechnology 22, 919–920

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kesselheim A. S., J. Avorn: 2005, University-based Science and Biotechnology Products: Defining the Boundaries of Intellectual Property, Journal of the American Medical Association 293, 850–854

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krimsky S.: 2003, Science in the Private Interest: Has the Lure of Profits Corrupted Biomedical Research? (Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, MD)

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis S., P. Baird, R. G. Evans, W. A. Ghali, C. J. Wright, E. Gibson, F. Baylis: 2001, Dancing with the Porcupine: Rules for Governing the University–Industry Relationship, Canadian Medical Association Journal 165(6), 783–785

    Google Scholar 

  • Lexchin J., L. A. Bero, B. Djulbegovic, O. Clark: 2003, Pharmaceutical Sponsorship and Research Outcome and Quality: Systematic Review. British Medical Journal 326(31 May), 1167–1170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marshall E.: 2000, The Business of Stem Cells, Science 287, 1419–1421

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCulloch E. A., J. E. Till: 1960, The Radiation Sensitivity of Normal Mouse Bone Marrow Cells, Determined by Quantitative Marrow Transplantation into Irradiated Mice, Radiation Research 13, 115–125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCulloch E. A., J. E. Till: 1962, The Sensitivity of Cells from Normal Mouse Bone Marrow to Gamma Radiation In Vitro and In Vivo, Radiation Research 16, 822–832

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moseley, K.: 2005, Patents 101, Stem Cell Network Annual General Meeting (22-25 November) Calgary, AB

  • Morin K., H. Rakatansky, F. A. Riddick Jr., L. J. Morse, J. M. O’Bannon III, M. S. Goldrich, P. Ray, M. Weiss, R. M. Sade, M. A. Spillman: 2002, Managing Conflicts of Interest in the Conduct of Clinical Trials, Journal of the American Medical Association 287(1), 78–84

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mowery D. C., R. R. Nelson, B. N. Sampat, A. A. Ziedonis: 2001, The Growth of Patenting and Licensing by U.S. Universities: An Assessment of the Effects of Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, Research Policy 30, 99–119

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelkin D., R. Nelson: 1987, Commentary: University–Industry Alliances, Science, Technology, & Human Values 12, 65–74

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson R. R.: 2004, The Market Economy, and the Scientific Commons, Research Policy 33, 455–471

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rai A. K., R. S. Eisenberg: 2003, Bayh-Dole Reform and the Progress of Biomedicine, Law and Contemporary Problems 66, 289–314

    Google Scholar 

  • Sandel M. J.: 2004, Embryo Ethics – The Moral Logic of Stem-Cell Research, New England Journal of Medicine 351, 207–209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shamblott M. J., et al.: 1998, Derivation of Pluripotent Stem Cells from Cultured Human Primordial Germ Cells?, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 95(22), 13726

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shorett P., P. Rabinow, P. R. Billings: 2003, The Changing Norms of the Life Sciences, Nature Biotechnology 21(2), 123–125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siepmann T.J.: 2004, The Global Exportation of the U.S. Bayh-Dole Act, University of Dayton Law Review 30, 209-244

    Google Scholar 

  • Singer M.: 2001, What Did the Asilomar Exercise Accomplish, What Did It Leave Undone?, Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 44(2), 186–191

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stein D. G.: 2004, Buying In or Selling Out? The Commercialization of the American Research University. (Rutgers University Press, Piscataway, NJ)

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomson J. A., J. Itskovitz-Eldor, S. S. Shapiro, M. A. Waknitz, J. J. Swiergiel, V. S. Marshall, J. M. Jones: 1998, Embryonic Stem Cell Lines Derived from Human Blastocysts, Science 282, 1145–1147

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Till, J. E. and E. A. McCulloch: 1961, 'A Direct Measurement of the Radiation Sensitivity of Normal Mouse Bone Marrow Cells', Radiation Research 14, 213–222

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • VanDuzer J. A.: 2003, The Law of Partnerships and Corporations, 2nd edn. (Irwin, Toronto, ON)

    Google Scholar 

  • Vogel G.: 2003, Stem Cells Lose Market Luster, Science 299, 1830–1831

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wade, N.: 1998, ‘Researchers Claim Embryonic Cell Mix of Human and Cow’, New York Times (12 November 1998) A-1

  • Waring D. R., T. Lemmens: 2004, Integrating Values in Risk Analysis of Biomedical Research: The Case for Regulatory and Law Reform, University of Toronto Law Journal 54(3), 249–290

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weiner C.: 1987, Patenting and Academic Research: Historical Case Studies, Science, Technology, & Human Values 12, 50–62

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stanford Program in International Legal Studies, Stanford Law School, Stanford, CA, USA

    Matthew Herder

  2. Center for Biology and Society, School of Life Sciences, and Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Jennifer Dyck Brian

Authors
  1. Matthew Herder
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jennifer Dyck Brian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Matthew Herder.

Additional information

Matthew Herder is a candidate for the Master of the Science of Law (JSM) degree at Stanford University. Prior to undertaking his studies at Stanford, Matthew completed LLM and LLB degrees at Dalhousie University, clerked at the Federal Court of Canada and articled at McCarthy Tetrault LLP in Toronto, Ontario. Matthew is also a member of the Novel Tech Ethics research team at Dalhousie University.

Jennifer Dyck Brian is a Ph.D. student in the Bioethics, Policy, and Law program at the Center for Biology & Society at Arizona State University. Previously, Jennifer worked as research assistant at the Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes at ASU, Wellesley College, and with the Novel Tech Ethics research team at Dalhousie University. Jennifer completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Western Ontario.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Herder, M., Brian, J.D. Canada’s Stem Cell Corporation: Aggregate Concerns and the Question of Public Trust. J Bus Ethics 77, 73–84 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9294-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9294-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation