NIH vs AAU & AAMC
The recent moves by the NIH to toughen up COI regulations have been met with much support, but also some critique, from policy makers and now academic groups. The following story — Drawing Lines on Conflicts of Interest – does a nice job of explaining some of the challenges of the NIH recommended reporting requirements, for both universities and the public service. Specifically, the Association of American Universities and the Association of American Medical Colleges, who have been active in promoting improvements to COI governance procedures in universities, query the extent to which detailed reporting to federal agencies of even low level financial interests is feasible, and useful in dealing with more important COI.
The good thing about such debate is that it gets both policy makers and the academic community thinking more clearly about what the actual dangers are with various forms of financial (or other) COIs, the thresholds at which interests become problematic, and the practical and effective mechanisms that can be implemented…