Conflict-of-Interest Spurs New Rules, Not Consensus

Extract

Drug manufacturers spent $7.8 billion in 2004 influencing physicians. That works out to roughly $10,000 for every practicing doctor in the country, according to IMS Health, the company that monitors the industry's finances.

They gave gifts, lucrative consulting contracts, and meals; they subsidized doctors' professional conferences and advertised in their journals. They gave drug samples to physicians that were worth another $16 billion.

Now several major research universities and government institutions are setting new rules that limit researchers' contact with pharmaceutical representatives. The policies range from extremely strict, like Stanford University's new “no pens or pizza” policy that limits all gifts no matter the size, to less stringent arrangements that allow doctors to accept drug samples, consult for companies, or own limited amounts of stock in companies that fund their research.

A conference on conflict of interest at the Cleveland Clinic in September outlined many of the still-unresolved issues. Although a few researchers claimed that new restrictions are unnecessary, many others said that separating research from company influence is essential to maintaining research integrity and restoring the public's confidence in major medical centers.