Conflicts of Interest

There is growing potential for conflicts of interest to arise in the biotech industry, as more and more drug trials proceed, and academic research dollars come as the result of collaborations formed with compay sponsers. Conflicts of interest can occur between company sponsers and doctors/scientists or clinical trial patients, or between the researchers and trial patients, researchers and their institutions, or as a result of the research itself. How to deal with a conflict of interest depends on the institution involved and its policies, as well as federal and other regulatory guidelines governing the area of research, but will probably involve full disclosure of financial information and sources of funding, and very detailed and thorough record-keeping, both of company communications and laboratory notebooks.