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PAPERS: Cary P Gross, Anu R Gupta, and Harlan M Krumholz Disclosure of financial competing interests in randomised controlled trials: cross sectional review BMJ 2003; 326: 526-527 [Full text]

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Medical Research: More funding needed.

Kamal Kumar Mahawar   (9 March 2003)

Medical Research: More funding needed. 9 March 2003
Kamal Kumar Mahawar, Senior House Officer Caithness General Hospital, Wick KW1 5NS Send response to journal: Re: Medical Research: More funding needed.	This indeed is a serious problem but it has its roots elsewhere. There is very little government funding available to carry out quality medical research in most countries. As a result, investigators are forced to turn to cash rich industry for support. No matters what the authors might claim, the sponsors are bound to influence the final results in some way or the other and the study can never be completely free of bias. I dont blame the researchers for this as there are very few options left to them due to the lack of funds. The only solution to this problem I see is that governments should start pumping more money into medical research or better still industry and government can come together to launch a fund specifically meant for this purpose where neither the sponsor nor the investigator know each other and the fund managers are impartial and neutral. Competing interests:   None declared