Profession
Conflicts of interest in clinical trials don't worry cancer patients
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Jan. 1, 2007
While clinical researchers have been heavily scrutinized for conflicts of interest that many fear compromise the integrity of study outcomes, patients do not seem that concerned, according to 253 in-person interviews with patients at five U.S. medical centers. Eighty percent of cancer patients enrolled in clinical trials said they were "not worried at all" about researchers' conflicts of interests. About 75% said that they still would have participated had they known about a conflict.
The Nov. 30, 2006 New England Journal of Medicine study found that patients were not worried about physician researchers who received consulting or speaking fees, owned stock, or received royalty payments from the pharmaceutical company whose drug was being investigated. A minority, 40%, said financial ties should be disclosed to patients; 40% said researchers should disclose how they monitor potential conflicts; 17% said no disclosure was needed.
Authors of the study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, said it is unclear why patients appear to be so sanguine about financial conflicts, but speculated that "patients may feel that some types of ties, such as consulting, are necessary to facilitate the conduct of research and to make progress against diseases." They also said that patients in noncancer trials might be more concerned about financial conflicts.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2007/01/01/prbf0101.htm.
