Research conducted by for-profit companies shouldn't be dismissed out of hand as hopelessly biased, the University of Pennsylvania's Ravi Parikh writes in an op-ed at the Washington Post.
Parikh acknowledges that some commercial entities have influenced research so as to promote their products, which has led to conflict of interest issues and other problems. But he argues at the Post that sometimes the hostility toward for-profit research goes too far as it may lead to properly done science being ignored.
Instead of overlooking for-profit research, Parikh writes that it should be subject to the same or stricter oversight as academic research to assuage fears of inappropriate practices.
"Good science is good science — no matter who performs or funds it," he writes. "If we want to help patients rather than boost egos, we should not automatically discount for-profit research, but rather we should encourage productive collaborations between for-profit, academic and other industries."