As a counterpoint, over the years I've invested in three smaller companies that had bought out small biotechs with promising products based on university research.
All three products (and two companies) went belly up when third stage clinical trials didn't pan out.  This is not a low risk endeavor by any means, and there are a few winners and lots of losers. 
Funny how people choose to only look at the success stories then scream that we're poaching intellectual property from the universities (who are no longer naive when it comes to getting their piece of the pie).
BTW many pharm companies moved to this model a few years ago thinking it would save R&D dollars and it's been a disaster, resulting in relatively few products compared to what they previously generated in house  (with staff every bit as good as the university's).   I fear the pipeline is drying up, but that's a story for another time.