Robin Mejia, writing for Nature Magazine, reports on some of the practical and ethical issues surrounding accepting corporate funds to conduct academic research in the life sciences. (1)

"Maintaining scientific integrity in a world where academic research and profit-seeking industry overlap is a challenge for many nations and individual scientists" (2). Restrictive contracts surrounding the publication of study results, and ability to cut funds mid-study the potential to draw the results of industry-backed studies into question. Indeed, Peter Gøtzsche, director of the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen, Denmark, found that in Denmark most corporations retained the rights to the data uncovered by the studies they sponsored, whereas David Ludwig, director of the obesity program at Children's Hospital Boston in Massachusetts, has found that corporate-backed studies are more likely to produce results that benefit the corporation than independently funded studies.

These issues are particularly pertinent where and when government funding for research is difficult to obtain.

Although different scientists have diverse perspectives on whether it is ever appropriate to accept corporate funding, Mejia concludes, "Industry funding can provide valuable research support for academics, but such arrangements must be handled with care." (1)