Institute calls on doctors to stop taking industry gifts

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http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNewsMolt/idUKTRE53R7PU20090428?sp=true

 

Report calls for strict conflict of interest rules

The Institute of Medicine has released a report containing recommendations aimed

at ending practices common among device firms and drugmakers that create

conflicts of interest in patient care and research, including offering free

meals, trips and other gifts. These practices " threaten the integrity of the

medical profession and erode public trust while providing no meaningful benefits

to patients or society, " said Dr. Bernard Lo, who led the committee that

prepared the report.

 

 

By Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Doctors need to stop taking handouts from drug and medical

device companies if they want to clean up the perception that industry has too

much influence over the practice of medicine, the Institute of Medicine said

Tuesday.

The institute, one of the National Academies of Sciences that advises U.S.

policymakers, said doctors need to voluntarily swear off lunches, drug samples

and strictly disclose research funding to strengthen protections against

financial conflicts of interest.

" It is time to end a number of long-accepted practices that create unacceptable

conflicts of interest, threaten the integrity of the medical profession, and

erode public trust while providing no meaningful benefits to patients or

society, " said Dr. Bernard Lo, chair of the committee that wrote the report and

professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

" We also need more specific disclosure of the financial relationships that

doctors and researchers have with medical industries, " Lo said in a statement.

Concern over research integrity in the United States has become more pronounced

following accusations last year by Iowa Republican Sen. Grassley that

prominent Harvard University psychiatrist Dr. ph Biederman and others failed

to fully disclose payments from drug companies.

The report called for virtually anyone involved in the practice of medicine --

academic medical centers, journals, professional societies, researchers and

doctors -- to set up or strengthen conflict of interest guidelines.

Doctors who have any financial ties with industry should disclose them not only

to their employers, but also to relevant medical organizations.

The report also called for more uniformity in conflict of interest policies, and

said current policies vary widely and many offer insufficient protections.

The report also calls on professional societies, government agencies and groups

that accredit medical schools to push for implementation of conflict-of-interest

policies, and expose institutions that have not adopted the recommended

policies.

While the report calls for new legislation to beef up disclosure of financial

conflicts, it also stresses the need for voluntary efforts by medical groups,

industry and individual doctors.

" If medical institutions do not act voluntarily to strengthen their conflict of

interest policies and procedures, the pressure for external regulation is likely

to increase, " the committee wrote.

(Editing by Maggie Fox)

 

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