Psychiatrists' Relationships With Pharmaceutical Companies
Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution?
- Thomas R. Insel, MD
- Author Affiliation: National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
- KEYWORDS:
- CONFLICT OF INTEREST
- DISCLOSURE
- DRUG INDUSTRY
- ETHICS, RESEARCH
- FACULTY, MEDICAL
- NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH (U.S.)
- PSYCHIATRY
- RESEARCH SUPPORT AS TOPIC
Psychiatrists have rarely enjoyed a surplus of public trust. During the past 3 years, public trust in psychiatry has been further undermined with accusations that several leading academic psychiatrists failed to disclose financial conflicts of interest. Sen Charles Grassley (R, Iowa), ranking member of the Finance Committee, has thus far accused 7 psychiatrists of failing to disclose income from pharmaceutical companies. As public trust in the pharmaceutical industry has plummeted, the close connection between leading psychiatrists and the pharmaceutical industry, once a sign of progress for the profession, is now cited as evidence of corrupt influence.1
The investigations spawned by these allegations already have had major effects, including restrictions on outside income, removal of investigators from National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants, and the resignation of the chair of a prestigious psychiatry department. Conflict of interest policies at many US universities have been enhanced to provide more rigorous requirements …
