ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the conflicts of interest facing individual investigators. It provides a taxonomy of the broad range of concerns that arise when an investigator conducts a clinical study in which he or she may have financial or other interests. The chapter describes some of the conflicts of interest facing research institutions and the current mechanisms that exist to regulate conflicts of interest, though primarily at the level of the relationship between investigators and the institutions in which research is conducted. It argues that efforts ought to be made to approximate the abolitionist position —to eliminate conflicts of interest —but recognizes that absent the political will to do so, conflicts need to be managed in a number of different ways. Nonetheless, the Food and Drug Administration and Public Health Service have promulgated regulations; and the National Science Foundation has issued a policy addressing the issue of financial conflicts of interest.
