This week theheart.org, Peeling the onion: Is more conflict of interest disclosure getting us closer to the truth? Reviews the topic of conflict of interest, it includes interviews with the nations top cardiologists and COI experts who hold a variety of views on this issue.
This is an honest attempt to look at the issue from both sides and gives insights into the arguments currently being presented.
But each fresh attempt toward more transparency seems only to usher in a fresh round of finger pointing and hand wringing.
At one end of the spectrum are those who believe that academic leaders, heads of professional medical societies, and chairs of guideline writing committees should have absolutely no ties to industry dollars.
On the other are those who point out that in any given medical specialization, the people who know the most about a disease, therapy, or technique will in many cases be the same ones who have gone on to devise the best treatments or at least provide the smarts to companies making products that help save lives in their particular area of specialization.
"The risk of being accused of not doing things right is significant, and it's especially bad right now in academic centers, where, if you admit you work with industry, it's like you're somehow automatically a bad person," Dr Robert Califf (Duke Clinical Research Institute, Durham, NC) told heartwire. "But we all know that we need medical products: drugs and devices account for a lot of the improvements in health, and we need them to be good."
As a result, physicians and researchers are increasingly worried about doing the right thing, or at least appearing to do so.
I encourage you to read on….Peeling the onion: Is more conflict of interest disclosure getting us closer to the truth?