Subject(s)
American Heart Association , Cardiology/ethics , Cardiovascular Diseases/therapy , Ethics, Medical , Professionalism/ethics , Research Report , Cardiology/standards , Cardiovascular Diseases/epidemiology , Consensus , Humans , Professionalism/standards , Research Report/standards , United States/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Beginning in the 1980s, the federal government encouraged institutional providers to collaborate with pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, and biotechnology ventures. The rationale underlying this public policy was that collaboration would accelerate the pace of innovation. More recently, the focus is on whether these collaborations create conflicts of interest that jeopardize the safety of subjects and the integrity of data. Various constituencies are calling for conflict of interest reform, while the demand for new diagnostic and therapeutic tools has never been greater. These competing messages have stakeholders questioning what to do. This article reviews recent developments in conflicts of interest reform and provides recommendations that institutions and industry can consider as they undertake to develop a scalable and flexible approach to enhancing their conflicts of interest infrastructure.
Subject(s)
Conflict of Interest/legislation & jurisprudence , Humans , Organizational Innovation , Public PolicyABSTRACT
In the wake of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regulations that govern the public company sector, standards are emerging to assure that nonprofit corporate boards are maintaining appropriate levels of independence. This Article provides a summation of the current trends in the development of independence standards for nonprofit corporate governance, from both tax and corporate law perspectives. The authors consider independence standards for nonprofit boards of governance and discuss the evolution of independence standards as they relate to the duty of good faith, and the distinction between independence and conflicts of interest. The authors also seek to examine the evolution of current federal regulations and study state models that have been successfully implemented to insure the independence of nonprofit corporations. Finally, the authors propose a set of core guidelines to be considered when addressing board and committee independence issues.
