Four big drugmakers are ponying up a combined $8.1 million to create a new center devoted to health and pharma law at Seton Hall University’s law school, which is located in a New Jersey suburb about 30 minutes from Manhattan.

The new Center for Health & Pharmaceutical Law is being funded by Schering-Plough, Sanofi-Aventis, Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb. The law school claims this will be the only US academic policy center of its kind focusing on legal issues surrounding big pharma.

Another $1 million is being donated by Gibbons, a prominent NJ law firm that works closely with drugmakers, to create a separate Institute for Law, Science & Technology. The two centers plan to train professionals in health and intellectual property law.

Here’s the donation breakdown:

Schering-Plough: $2.5 million toward a chair in health care regulation and enforcement;

Sanofi-Aventis: $500,000 as a gift for a part-time researcher and other infrastructure;

Johnson & Johnson: a $100,000 gift for research and international compliance education;

Bristol-Myers Squibb: $5 million endowment for a chair in corporate governance and business ethics.

Bristol-Myers Squibb is establishing the chair as part of a resolution of an investigation by the U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, a Seton Hall alum, who required the drugmaker to sign a Deferred Prosecution Agreement in the wake of an accounting scandal. The DPA expires in June and Christie recently said he’s ‘very happy’ with Bristol’s progress.

Given the scandals and criticism plaguing the industry in recent years, this is a welcome step. If more industry people attend such programs, perhaps there will be fewer missteps - resulting in huge fines and stained reputations.

But missing in action are a few familiar names. Where is Wyeth, Merck, Roche, Pfizer, Glaxo, AstraZeneca and Novartis? Pat Hobbs, the Seton Hall law school dean, says he and his team have approached all of the big drugmakers, but things haven’t progressed far enough. Why not? What happened, guys?

You can read about the Seton Hall law school here.

[tags]Bristol-Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi-Aventis, Schering-Plough, Seton Hall Law School[/tags]