Lead Essay: Conflicts of interest: opening up new territories

Abstract

Over the last few decades, awareness of the importance of managing conflicts of interest among health-related policymaking, professional, research, and clinical institutions has greatly increased. The visibility of the issue—and the widespread use of the expression “conflict of interests”—may give the impression that the underlying concepts have been clearly defined and that there is widespread consensus about processes and practices. Sadly, this is not the case. In reality, conflicts of interests are far more complex than is commonly appreciated and, because of their importance, require ongoing detailed, rigorous analysis and debate.