Bero serves on IOM committee that reports on conflict of interest

UCSF School of Pharmacy researcher Lisa Bero, PhD, served with UCSF School of Medicine colleagues Bernard Lo, MD, and Deborah Grady, MD, MPH, on an Institute of Medicine (IOM) committee that in spring 2009 published its findings on conflict of interest in medical research, education, and practice.

The report states that while collaborations between physicians or medical researchers and pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotechnology companies can benefit society, financial ties between medicine and industry may create conflicts of interest. Furthermore, these conflicts may jeopardize the integrity of scientific investigations, the objectivity of medical education, the quality of patient care, and the public's trust in medicine. Lo chaired the IOM committee.

Committee recommendations include the following:

• Medical institutions should establish conflict of interest policies that require disclosure and management of both individual and institutional financial ties to industry.
• Congress should create a national reporting program that requires pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotechnology companies to make public all payments to physicians, researchers, health care institutions, professional societies, patient advocacy and disease groups, and providers of continuing medical education.
• As a general rule, researchers should not conduct research involving human participants if they have a financial interest in the outcome of the research, for example, if they hold a patent on an intervention being tested in a clinical trial.

Committee Report

Conflict of Interest in Medical Research, Education, and Practice - April 28, 2009

Report Brief

Report Brief: Conflict of Interest in Medical Research, Education, and Practice - April 2009 (PDF, 4 pages, 725 KB)