CHAPEL HILL -- The new cancer hospital at UNC-Chapel Hill has a little more spending money now.
The N.C. Cancer Hospital's endowment doubled Monday with a $2 million gift from the U.S. arm of Sanofi-Aventis, a global drug manufacturer with headquarters in Paris and New Jersey.
"The gift is a recognition of the very strong research being done here and our desire to work with UNC," said Chris Viehbacher, the drug company's chief executive officer. The company has previously provided funding for at least one professorship and scholarships.
The cancer hospital's endowment is now worth about $3.9 million. Generally, universities spend about 5 percent of their invested money each year, and officials say the Sanofi-Aventis money will be used for clinical research and programs and services for patients and their families. It will not be used for payroll, even though the new hospital, which opened this fall at a cost of $207 million, will add 190 workers over the next year, officials said.
A hospital committee will determine exactly how the endowment money is spent. Some will probably pay for new research or therapies not currently funded through federal grants, said Richard Goldberg, the hospital's physician-in-chief.
"It will let us diversify our research and treatments," said Goldberg, who specializes in gastrointestinal cancers.
The money also will help pay for services for patients' families, such as a support center where visitors can connect to the Internet, get a gas card or find other resources.
The donation indicated the pharmaceutical firm's desire to link itself more closely with academia, said Viehbacher, the Sanofi-Aventis CEO. Cancer research and treatment have grown so complicated and specialized that academic research and private industry need each other more thanever. The company hopes discoveries made at UNC-CH could lead to new drugs the company could develop.
"The days when pharmaceutical companies said 'we can do this on our own' is done," Viehbacher said, adding that his company is forging new working relationships with Cal Tech, Johns Hopkins and several other universities. "We are looking at a more collaborative approach."
While universities often solicit private donations to help defray the cost of new construction or facility expansion, the new cancer hospital was funded by the state, a detail university officials were quick to point out repeatedly Monday during a brief ceremony announcing the gift.
"At a time of financial stress when other states are pulling back on health care, North Carolina is stepping up, and so is private industry," said Holden Thorp, UNC-CH's chancellor.
