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A survey of hospital review boards that watchdog experiments on patients shows that one in three members takes money from companies that make drugs and medical devices that come under study. What's more, many of those with conflicts rarely or never disclose their financial ties, researchers found.
The study of 100 university medical centers is said to be the first to look at financial conflicts of interest on hospitals' institutional review boards. IRBs are little-known committees responsible for protecting patients in research experiments.
The study's findings are alarming, said some patient advocates.
If the review board "is riddled with financial conflicts of interest, it's not going to be as protective as it should be," said Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of the Public Citizen's Health Research Group.
The study was published in this week's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Corporate funding of medical research is common and a mainstay in the translation of scientific discoveries into medical treatments. But in the last five years, there has been heightened scrutiny of the financial ties between researchers and the companies...
