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The challenges of setting policy

February 6th, 2009

Following up on a story I linked too back in December about the University of Minnesota and updates to its COI policy, things seem to have taken an interesting twist. The Dean of the University of Minnesota Medical School, Deborah Powell, in charge of developing the new policy is charged with

“moving the institution toward weaker ethics reform than her own task force previously recommended, an unreleased draft report obtained by The Minnesota Daily indicates.”

Apparently the most demanding elements of the draft policy have been removed. Of note,

“Key elements of the task force’s recommendations, believed by some to be among the most needed changes, are notably absent from Powell’s draft, among them a recommendation to sever financial ties between industry and continuing medical education programs. If enacted, that recommendation “would’ve put Minnesota on the map,” task force member and University journalism professor Gary Schwitzer said.

Powell also rejected the task force’s recommendation to eliminate the level at which Medical School faculty and staff would be required to disclose financial relationships with industry. Powell recommended lowering the school’s current $10,000 threshold to $500, while the task force sought to do away with it all together.

The task force recommended that faculty fully disclose the source of research funding as well, particularly those with clinical trials funded by industry, something Powell did not include in her recommendations.”

It looks like Minnesota is missing an opportunity to implement coherent and robust COI guidelines…a pity.

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