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Conflicts of Interest in Clinical Research: Addressing the Issue of Physician Remuneration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Timothy Caulfield  and
Glenn Griener
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Extract

In the past few years, there have been a number of high profile incidents that have emphasized the issues associated with financial conflicts of interest. As a result, commentators and policy-makers throughout the world have been directing their attention to how financial conflicts should be addressed. Despite such activity, however, there are few policies that provide specific guidance addressing one of the most common forms of financial conflict-the provision of generous remuneration packages to clinical investigators.

In this column, we explore the conflict of interest issues that flow from the pharmaceutical industry paying community physicians to be investigators in clinical drug trials. In particular, we are interested in the challenges associated with the management of this complex issue by local research ethics boards. We suggest the need for more research on this topic and specific guidelines to empower these boards to address this growing concern. We recognize that this is one of many current conflict issues faced by policy-makers today.

Type
Currents in Contemporary Ethics
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 30 , Issue 2 , Summer 2002 , pp. 305 - 308
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2002

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