Possible Conflict of Interest Within Medical Profession

Many on review boards for clinical trials are tied to drug industry, study finds

(HealthDay is the new name for HealthScoutNews.)

FRIDAY, Aug. 15, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- Nearly half of medical school faculty members who serve on Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) also serve as consultants to the pharmaceutical industry -- a situation that can cause potential conflicts of interest.

The troubling finding comes in a study published Aug. 15 in Academic Medicine.

IRBs are charged with protecting human subjects taking part in clinical trials. Many previous reports have charged that IRBs fail to adequately protect those people because the IRB members don't have enough experience or because they have financial conflicts of interest involving the pharmaceutical industry.

Medical school faculty members usually account for about half of the people who serve on IRBs. These faculty members have extensive knowledge and research experience. Because of that, they're often the opinion leaders on IRBs and may guide the group's activities.

This new Massachusetts General Hospital study surveyed 2,989 faculty members from 125 medicals schools across the United States between October 2001 and March 2002. It found 47 percent of the faculty members who served on IRBs were also researchers who had served as consultants to the pharmaceutical industry within three years of the study.

"Our previous research with faculty has shown us that ties to industry can affect scientific behavior, leading to such things as trade secrecy and delays in publishing research," study author Eric G. Campbell, an assistant professor in medicine at the Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, says in a news release.

"It's possible that similar relationships with companies could affect IRB members' activities and attitudes, although our current study did not directly address this issue," Campbell says.

More information

Here's where you can learn more about clinical trials.

Related Stories

No stories found.
logo
www.healthday.com