Jessica L. O'Hara
Senator Charles E. Grassley (R-IA) continues his campaign for tougher enforcement of conflict of interest policies and requirements for disclosure of financial ties at medical schools. In a June 24, 2009, letter, Senator Grassley asked 23 medical schools for their conflict of interest policies and requirements for disclosure of financial relationships between faculty and the pharmaceutical industry. These 23 schools had either “no response” or “declined to submit policies” when the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) requested this information.
AMSA requested this information of 149 medical schools for the purpose of the AMSA PharmFree Scorecard 2009, released June 16, 2009. Of the 126 schools that provided information of their conflicts of interest policies, 35 schools received an F, 17 received a D, 18 received a C, 36 received a B, and only 9 schools received an A grade. A list of the 23 schools who failed to report information to AMSA as well as the text of Senator Grassley’s letter can be found on the senator’s website.
Senator Grassley, the ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, has worked to achieve uniform and universal disclosure of financial arrangements that pharmaceutical, medical device, and other related companies have with physicians. He has conducted extensive oversight of financial relationships, especially among physicians who conduct research with federal grants from the National Institutes of Health. However, while institutions receiving such federal funding are required to track financial relationships, Senator Grassley’s findings over the past year indicate that enforcement of those requirements is inconsistent. Senator Grassley introduced the “Physician Payments Sunshine Act” (S 301) in January 2009, which would require payments from the drug industry to be publicly reported.
In May 2009, NIH announced it would also look further into conflict of interest issues and released an advance notice of proposed rulemaking to seek public comments on amending current regulations regarding financial conflict of interests in biomedical or behavioral research for which Public Health Service funding is sought. The comment period ends July 7, 2009.