Follow the Money ... and Good Luck with Those Impartiality Rules

The amount of money that biomedical researchers receive from drug companies outstrips grants from the federal government, $55 billion versus $36 billion, respectively, reports the Los Angeles Times. With this funding, drug companies build close relationships with universities and their researchers who still appear to be impartial as they serve on committees that pen treatment standards and guidelines — recommendations from which those drug companies stand to benefit. "At present, the financial ties between the guidelines panels and industry are extensive," wrote Robert Steinbrook in last January's New England Journal of Medicine.