Industry funding and self-censorship: how many bite the hand that feeds them?

Research published in The BMJ in 2020 found that 72% of leaders of influential US professional medical associations had financial relationships with industry.1 Boytchev’s new investigation2—finding that many royal colleges have financial ties with the drug and medical device industries—adds to the list of things marking the “special relationship” between the UK and US.In their defence, the royal colleges told The BMJ that industry funding represents “a fraction of their overall budgets.” The Royal College of Physicians said that “no corporate partner has ever provided more than 1% of our annual income.” Other royal colleges said that drug companies provide a similarly small percentage of overall college income.2What can we make of such statements? The implication seems to be that, because the amounts make a small contribution to overall budgets, industry funding does not matter—and certainly would not bias the royal colleges in any way. We disagree for one simple…
Read Original Article: Industry funding and self-censorship: how many bite the hand that feeds them? »