Conflicts of interest and commercialization of research

Abstract

The author introduces questions about the commercialization of science, focusing on fairness and conflicts of interest, and suggests the bases for policy initiatives. First, is it fair for government-supported research to enrich research universities and individual scientists? The belief that it is unfair seems limited to biomedicine and is not shared by other fields and government research agencies. The main concerns, however, are conflicts of interest and of commitment (loss of objectivity, reordering of priorities, degradation of science as an open and collegial enterprise, conflicts of commitment, and exploitation of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows). The author outlines 11 principles that can be used in setting policies about conflict of interest and commitment, including the principles that these conflicts are inevitable, that technology transfer should be supported rather than hindered, that the type and amount of financial reward received by the faculty are not as important as the strings attached by the commercial sponsor, and that trainees must be protected from working in settings where they cannot discuss or promptly publish their work.