Financial ties as part of informed consent to postmarketing research. Attitudes of American doctors and patients.

Postmarketing research, often called phase IV trials, is intended to familiarise doctors and patients with newly approved drugs. La Puma and colleagues, in Chicago, studied doctors' and patients' attitudes to whether doctors should receive payment for taking part in such research. We asked for commentaries on their findings from four ethical experts, who put the study in a British context, present the views of patients, and examine some methodological assumptions.