Conflict of Interest and Medicine

In the context of a growing criticism on the influence of the pharmaceutical industry on physicians, scientists, or politicians, Conflict of Interest and Medicine offers a comprehensive analysis of the conflict of interest in medicine anchored in the social sciences, with perspectives from sociology, history, political science, and law. Based on in-depth empirical investigations conducted within different territories (France, the European Union, and the United States) the contributions analyze the development of conflict of interest as a social issue and how it impacts the production of medical knowledge and expertise, physicians' work and their prescriptions, and also the framing of health crises and controversies. In doing so, they bring a new understanding of the transformations in the political economy of pharmaceutical knowledge, the politicization of public health risks, and the promotion of transparency in science and public life. Complementing the more normative and quantitative understandings of conflict of interest issues that dominate today, this book will be of interest to researchers in a broad range of areas including social studies of sciences and technology, sociology of health and illness, and political sociology and ethics. It will be also a valuable resource for health professionals, medical scientists, or regulators facing the question of corporate influence.

Boris Hauray is a sociologist at Inserm (French National Institute for Health and Medical Research) and a member of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Social Issues (IRIS). He was the scientific coordinator of the project MEDICI on conflict of interest in the field of medicines (French National Research Agency, 2017-2021). Henri Boullier is a sociologist at CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research) and a member of the Interdisciplinary Research Institute in Social Sciences (IRISSO). His research focuses on the power relationships at play in health and environmental policies, in particular concerning industrial chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Jean-Paul Gaudillière is historian of science, Senior Researcher at Inserm (French National Institute for Health and Medical Research) and Professor at EHESS (School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences). His recent work focuses on the history of pharmaceutical innovation and the dynamics of health globalization. Hélène Michel is a political scientist, Professor at the University of Strasbourg, a member of the Institut Universitaire de France, and of the SAGE laboratory (Societies, Actors and Government in Europe). She has worked on interest groups, lobbying, and transparency policies in the European Union.

Introduction: Conflict of Interest and the Politics of Biomedicine Part 1. Knowledge and Expertise 1. A Genealogy of Conflict of Interest 2. "Conflict of Interest" or Simply "Interest"? Shifting Values in Translational Medicine 3. Managing Conflicts of Interest at the European Medicines Agency: Success or Weakness of the Soft Law Tools? 4. From the Management of Conflicts of Interest to the Transformation of Medical Experts' Profiles. The Members of the Transparency Committee in France (2000-2020) Part 2. Physicians and the Framing of Prescription Practices 5. Conflicts of Interest in Medical Practice: Causes and Cures 6. In Whose Best Interest? Framing Pharmacists' and Physicians' (Conflicts of) Interest in the French Market for Generic Drugs 7. The Politics of Industrial Transparency. Constructing a Database on the Pharmaceutical Funding of the Health Sector 8. Scientific Marketing and Conflict of Interest: Lessons From the Hormone Replacement Therapies (HRT) Crisis Part 3. Mobilizations and Controversies 9. "This Corporation Has 'Anesthetized' the Actors in the Drug Chain". Influence Peddling and the Normality of Conflicts of Interest in the Mediator® Scandal 10. For Science, by Science. The Emergence and Circulation of Conflict of Interest as a Protest Repertoire to Fight Against Pesticides 11. Conflict of interest, Capture, Production of Ignorance, and Hegemony: Conceptualizing the Influence of Corporate Interests on Public Health Postface: Conflict of Interest, Industry Hegemony and Key Opinion Leader Management