PHIL 7570
CASE STUDIES IN RESEARCH ETHICS

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Commercial interests and the scientific enterprise have co-existed hand-in-hand for as long as both have been practiced. In many cases this is a beneficial relationship. However, with developments in the medical and pharmaceutical industries, and more generally in the biotech industry, special concerns have been raised about the ethics of commercial interests and its effects on the direction of research. On the international stage, private companies often export research that would not otherwise be permitted in industrialized nations because of environmental and human protections in place. Some question the value of commerical research when, as a result of its interest in profit and ownership of intellectual property, industry does not wish to share its findings in an open and public fashion. In addition, with the increasing insertion of profit motivations into main stream academic science (e.g., Bayh/Dole Act of 1980), some worry about the direction research is moving. These and other questions will be addressed in the current session.

Guest Presenter for Fall 2007: Hunter Jackson (Dr. Jackson will be using the case study presented in the assigned article as a discussion starter on the relationship between commercial interests and academic research.)

Assigned Readings:

• Article: Scientific inquiry: The fight's just starting. By NANCY OLIVIERI. The Globe and Mail, October 31, 2001. An personal account of the outcome of the The Report of the Committee of Inquiry on the Case Involving Dr. Nancy Olivieri, the Hospital for Sick Children, the University of Toronto, and Apotex Inc. Deals with corporate interests and scientific/academic integrity.
  
• Discussion Topics: Commerce and Research

Other Articles and Links

• Medical Research Ethics Under the Microscope. From The Chronicle of Higher Education , July 25, 2003: A22-A24. Article reviews the confluence of commercial interest and academic integrity.

• Between Lab Bench and Marketplace: The Pitfalls of Technology Transfer. By Josua Powers. In The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 22, 2006.

• Genes and Patent Policy: Rethinking Intellectual Property Rights. (PDF) By Lori B. Andrews. In Nature Reviews Genetics, 3, October 2002, pp. 803-808.

• Uneasy Alliance: Clinical Investigators and the Pharmaceutical Industry. (PDF) By Thomas Bodenheimer, M.D. Health Policy Report. NEJM, 342, May 18, 2000; pp. 1539-1544.

• More Washington Post reports on international research issues:
  • Where profits and lives hang in the balance. (PDF) By Joe Stephens. The Washington Post, December 17, 2000. (Part I of VI on the risks of international drug research; see below for more in this series.)
  • Testing Tidal Wave Hits Overseas. By M. P. Flaherty, D. Nelson, & J. Stephens. The Washington Post, December 18, 2000. (Part II of VI)
  • The Dilemma: Submit or Suffer. By S. LaFraniere, M. P. Flaherty, & J. Stephens. The Washington Post, December 19, 2000. (Part III of VI)
  • An Isolated Region's Genetic Mother Lode. By J. Pomfret & D. Nelson. The Washington Post, December 20, 2000. (Part IV of VI)
  • Latin America is Ripe for Trials, and Fraud. By K. DeYoung & D. Nelson. The Washington Post, December 21, 2000. (Part V of VI)
  • Life by Luck of the Draw. By M. P. Flaherty & D. Struck. The Washington Post, December 22, 2000. (Part VI of VI)

• Conflicts of Interest: Can You Believe What You Read? In Nature, March 28, 2002: 360-363. A study on the effect for-profit enterprise has on university research publications.