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Survey Says: Potential Bias, But Excellent Data Quality

Nov 05, 2008

Industry-funded research, particularly in the biomedical area, is often shunned as biased – the New York Times' John Tierney points to JAMA's stricter standards for research papers from industry as an example. However, a new study in the International Journal of Obesity that was funded by NIH analyzed data from 60 obesity treatment clinical trials and found that industry-supported research had better data quality than non-industry supported research. Adaptive Complexity's Michael White notes, "We shouldn't blindly reject non-academic biomedical research, but neither should we risk the public trust by failing to make the financial stakes involved in a study transparent."

Breaking News
The Scan

Pig Organ Transplants Considered

The Wall Street Journal reports that the US Food and Drug Administration may soon allow clinical trials that involve transplanting pig organs into humans.

'Poo-Bank' Proposal

Harvard Medical School researchers suggest people should bank stool samples when they are young to transplant when they later develop age-related diseases.

Spurred to Develop Again

New Scientist reports that researchers may have uncovered why about 60 percent of in vitro fertilization embryos stop developing.

Science Papers Examine Breast Milk Cell Populations, Cerebral Cortex Cellular Diversity, Micronesia Population History

In Science this week: unique cell populations found within breast milk, 100 transcriptionally distinct cell populations uncovered in the cerebral cortex, and more.