Association of American Medical Colleges Calls on Schools To Tell Researchers To Honor Confidentiality Agreements

Main Category: Medical Students / Training
Article Date: 20 Aug 2005 - 9:00 PDT

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The Association of American Medical Colleges on Thursday urged all 125 accredited medical schools in the US to tell their researchers to "scrupulously honor" confidentiality agreements, the... Seattle Times reports. AAMC's statement follows an Aug. 7 Times report that found 26 cases where doctors leaked "confidential and critical" information about ongoing clinical research to Wall Street brokerages or hedge funds, the Times reports. Legal experts have said that such practices violate federal insider-trading laws. The Times report prompted Senate Finance Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) to request an investigation from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice, and SEC officials have begun such an investigation. Rebecca Harmon -- a spokesperson for the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, which was named in the original Times story -- said, "The article provided important examples of potential conflict-of-interest situations, which we take very seriously" (Timmerman, Seattle Times, 8/19).

Association of American Medical Colleges

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