Profession

Study finds gaps in medical schools' conflict-of-interest rules

NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted March 17, 2008

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Few U.S. medical schools have policies to address conflicts in their institutional financial interests, but many do have rules on investigators' financial ties, according to a study in the Feb. 13 Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study found that 30 of 125 allopathic schools had policies that applied to a school's own financial interests. Meanwhile, 55 schools had rules about senior officials' interests and 55 had policies for mid-level officials. Forty-three schools saw a potential conflict in institutional research officials' financial ties to a research sponsor or a product under study.

David J. Rothman, PhD, of Columbia University in New York, said in a related editorial that it is naive to trust institutions to monitor and discipline their own financial activities linked to research on their campuses. "Licensing agreements on patents generate close to $2 billion per year for academic research centers," he wrote. "At a time when federal research funding is declining and competition for philanthropic gifts is intensifying, universities may not be eager to promulgate policies that would restrict their freedom to maneuver."

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/03/17/prbf0317.htm.

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