US IoM says new measures needed to cut conflict of interest in medical research

New voluntary and regulatory measures can strengthen protections against financial conflicts of interest in medicine without hindering patient  care or the advancement of medical knowledge, says a new report by the  USA's Institute of Medicine, which comes in the wake of criticism of  pharmaceutical industry marketing practices.

Several US academic/medical bodies and individual researchers have  recently proposed tightening rules on industry interactions, including  the banning of gifts from drugmakers (Marketletters passim), as well as  the sector trade association, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers  of America (PhRMA), has also instigated voluntary action. The PhRMA's  reactions to the IoM report are discussed later in this article.

The report tackles conflicts of interest across the spectrum of  medicine, from biomedical research to clinical care and from the  training of new doctors to the continuing education of physicians. It  recommends several actions to improve disclosure of financial ties  between the medical community and industry, limit company payments and  gifts, and remove industry influence from medical education and the  development of practice guidelines.