Harvard Teaching Hospitals Cap Outside Pay
The owner of two research hospitals affiliated with the Harvard Medical School has imposed restrictions on outside pay for two dozen senior officials who also sit on the boards of pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies. The limits come in the wake of growing criticism of the ties between industry and academia.
Medical experts say they believe the conflict-of-interest rules at the institution, Partners HealthCare, go further than those of any other academic medical center in restricting outside pay from drug companies. The rules, which became effective on Friday, impose limits specifically on outside directors who guide some of the nation’s biggest companies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/health/research/03hospital.html?pagewanted=printWill someone please explain to me what the downside of such ties are as long as all relationships are transparent and the research conducted is done so at arms length? Should academia receive no industry support of any kind?
However, it's okay for business professors who criticize pharma ties to academia to disgorge huge consulting fees from said corporations...
"Thomas Donaldson, a professor of business ethics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, said: “It strikes me as a breath of fresh air in a room that’s getting progressively more stale. I hope this will set a standard for others — hospitals, medical schools.”
Professor Donaldson, who advises large companies on corporate governance, said dual roles in a hospital and at a drug maker were “dicey at best” because a director’s duty is to look out for the corporation’s financial interests.
The irony or hypocrisy is not even noted because, well, only pharma dough is evil. Meanwhile, I have obtained a photo of the new Partners RNAi antibodies facility... paid for from medical students actvitivy fees
