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Conflicts of interest: remembering the past?

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

In a post on californiastemcellreport titled
Angell, Corruption and Medical Research, Dave Jensen began:

The former editor in chief of the New England Journal of Medicine weighed in on the ?smell of corruption? in medical research earlier this year in a piece that has some implications for the California stem cell agency.

Jensen omitted discussing what happened at the New England Journal of Medicine shortly before Marcia Angell became the "former" editor-in-chief.

From a 2004 post on IPBiz -->

From the Los Angeles Times via the Baltimore Sun (24 February 2000)

One of the world's most influential medical journal has admitted to an extraordinary betrayal of its own ethics, saying that nearly half the drug reviews published since 1997 were written by researchers with undisclosed financial support from companies marketing the drugs.

The New England Journal of Medicine, in an unusual internal inquiry published in today's edition, found that 19 of about 40 drug therapy reviews violated its tough conflict-of-interest policy. The policy bars researchers with ties to pharmaceutical companies from writing reviews or editorials about company products.

How quickly they forget! At least Jensen's right about the conflicts-of-interest at CIRM, which have been apparent at all relevant times. Jensen might also have noted how certain stem cell scientists have not been disclosing their patent interests to journals.

Full post as published by IPBiz on April 05, 2009 (boomark / email).