The National Institutes of Health has proposed new guidelines to prevent financial conflicts of interest (COI) among researchers who receive federal funding. The move, which will affect more than 40,000 researchers, comes amid rising concern about the influence of the pharmaceutical industry and other private-sector interests on scientific research. Among other changes, the guidelines will reduce from $10,000 to $5,000 the minimum payment that researchers will be required to report. It also mandates that universities, colleges, research institutes, businesses, and other entities that employ researchers who receive NIH funding monitor compliance with the new reporting requirement. Funding information would have to be posted on a publicly accessible website, and violators could lose their grants.
Although partnerships between NIH-funded researchers and industry are essential, “in order to preserve the public trust in the objectivity of biomedical and behavioral research, all research has to be conducted without bias and with the highest scientific and ethical standards,” NIH Director Francis S. Collins said in announcing the guidelines, which will be subject to 60 days of public comment and possible revision before they become final. Collins stressed that, in most cases, the integrity of scientific research has not been compromised by outside funding. But even the appearance of a conflict can undermine public trust, he said. Universities and professional organizations have been tightening their policies concerning outside funding in recent years to prevent conflicts of interests.
Source: The Washington Post