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September 20, 2014
Some members of the board and the review team of the non-profit organization conducting a review of the University of Minnesota’s scandal-plagued ethical procedures for running clinical trials have ties to drug companies, reports Forbes.
This latest review was prompted in the wake of the long-running investigative efforts of MIA Blogger Carl Elliot into the 2004 death of Dan Markingson during a clinical trial of antipsychotic medications at the university. The University of Minnesota hired the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs to conduct this review, but Forbes reports that professor of bioethics Leigh Turner has exposed conflicts of interest amongst the board and review team.
Some University of Minnesota Faculty Senate members recently wrote to university officials, saysForbes, expressing concern that, “The conflicts of interest raise serious questions about the credibility of the present review.” The Senate members asked for “a genuinely credible, independent review that takes a hard look at how the university dealt – and continues to deal with – activities that are widely perceived as profound breaches of ethical responsibility.”
University Plan to Review Clinical Trial Work Meets Conflict Charges (Forbes, September 10, 2014
