Monday, December 24, 2007

New restrictive UMass policy on industry ties

From the Boston Globe article:

Under the UMass Memorial policy, companies may still fund continuing medical educational courses, but the money must be funneled through the UMass Memorial Foundation and cannot be earmarked for a specific topic or doctor - a compromise reached with doctors after executives said they wanted to ban company educational funding entirely. Doctors say this is a crucial source for keeping up their skills.

Companies can direct funding to a specific department, such as surgery. A special committee will review all donations over $10,000 for potential conflicts of interest.

The goal is to ensure that companies do not influence the content of courses so as to place their drug or device in a favorable light.

Click here to access the article.

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