Medical researchers face conflicts of interest

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Dr. Bruce Psaty of University of Washington in Seattle knows how easy it can be to fall under the spell of a friendly relationship with drug companies.

As an assistant professor, he published an article on using beta-blockers to treat high blood pressure that caught the attention of the pharmaceutical industry.

"My family and I were invited to a first-class resort, where I presented the results at a sponsored conference," Psaty wrote in a commentary this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

He agreed to help develop a set of slides on beta-blockers and soon found himself suggesting that the drug company's studies be featured, in part because he felt "a kind of social duty to reciprocate both the kindness and the investment made by the sponsor in the slide set."

Psaty said his own story illustrates the subtleties of conflicts of interest. He is dissatisfied with the current debate among doctors, spurred by reports last year by Iowa Republican Senator Charles Grassley that a prominent Harvard psychiatrist failed to fully disclose hefty payments from drug companies.

"The debate has not been terribly fruitful," Psaty said in a telephone interview. He said conflicts are sometimes hard to recognize, pointing to the work of Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist at Duke University in North Carolina.

Ariely's research suggests that most people are comfortable with just a little bit of cheating, without considering themselves dishonest. He says subtle conflicts of interest often color decision making, yet most people -- especially doctors -- think they are immune.

HUMAN INSTINCT