Academic health leaders sit on drug company boards; conflicts of interest, study asks?

CHICAGO – A new study shows that leaders of many academic medical centres sit on the boards of some of the world’s biggest drug companies. And the study authors say that raises the potential for worrisome conflicts of interest.

The authors note that board members oversee company decision-making and have a financial responsibility to company shareholders. They say those duties could potentially compromise decisions that medical centre leaders make for their own institutions.

The study doesn’t call for a ban on these relationships but suggests that medical centre leaders should not be voting members.

University representatives say academic medical centres have policies on conflict of interest to prevent any issues.

The study was published online Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.