NCCAM-industry colloquium: exploring opportunities for collaboration.

Abstract

On May 14, 2001, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) convened a colloquium to begin a dialogue with two key groups: (1) industrial stakeholders that supply raw materials and manufacture and market complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapeutics (e.g., dietary supplements and other biologically based treatments)*; and (2) organizations that develop and apply standards to determine the identity, quality, and safety of these products. Chaired by Myron S. Weinberg, chairman of The Weinberg Group, Inc., the meeting was planned jointly with representatives of stakeholder groups and with Paul M. Coates, director of the Office of Dietary Supplements at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland. The NCCAM convened the colloquium because, as outlined in the NCCAM’s first 5-year strategic plan, “Expanding Horizons of Healthcare,” (see http://nccam.nih.gov/strategic) clinical research is the NCCAM’s highest research priority and because the Center seeks to leverage its intellectual and financial resources via collaborations. The goal of the meeting was to begin a dialogue regarding how the NCCAM and industry can work together to evaluate definitively CAM therapeutic products for composition, safety, and efficacy. More than 200 representatives of industry, members of the CAM and conventional research communities, third-party payers, consumers, organizations that produce and disseminate compendia of information; regulatory law personnel; representatives of government agencies; CAM and conventional practitioners; members of the media; and members of NCCAM advisory groups attended, thus ensuring input from the broad stakeholder community. In a series of sessions, speakers presented background material to contribute to the discussions of two panels charged with address-