Medical research must put public interests before commercial decisions, warns pharmaceutical faculty

Doctors employed by pharmaceutical companies must always put the best interests of patients before their medical research, even if it brings them into conflict with their employers, according to new practical advice from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine published in the February issue of IJCP.

The Ethical Issues Committee of the Faculty - part of the UK's Royal Colleges of Physicians - has also endorsed the move towards registering all clinical trials before studies are initiated and called for all results to be reported.