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Description
Discussions of conflict of interest in biomedical research tend to focus on the integrity of the individual investigator. Can a scientist view the data in an unbiased way if he or she is receiving support from the manufacturer? Will the research be tainted by the investigator's financial ties? Financial disclosure forms have become a routine part of publishing an article in a journal or giving a presentation at a conference. However, little attention has been given to the potential impact of relationships with industry at the institutional level. Can an academic department be tainted just like an individual researcher?
A research team led by members of the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute for Health Policy, with cooperation from the American Association of Medical Colleges, sought to assess the extent of institutional relationships with industry. Their findings, reported in the October 17 JAMA, demonstrate that departmental ties to industry are common and raise important questions. "Our data show that institutional relationships are as ubiquitous as individual relationships," said lead investigator Eric Campbell. "As with personal interactions, some institutional relationships likely pose conflicts of interest with the overall missions of academic medical centers. This study is a first step toward compiling information that will be crucial for the development of policies regarding these relationships."
Campbell and colleagues surveyed 459 department heads at 125 accredited U.S. medical schools and the 15 largest independent teaching hospitals. At each institution they identified four clinical department chairs (including medicine, psychiatry, and two randomly selected clinical departments) and two nonclinical chairs (including microbiology... |
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