In an opinion piece by Thomas Stossel, the Harvard physician and researcher argues that financial conflicts of interest between academic research investigators and industry are “unequivocally beneficial” and that the concern that these may cause bias is a “mania”.  Dr. Stossel seems to be on a crusade in this regard having written numerous similar opinion pieces published in industry supported blogs, Forbes, and the Wall Street Journal and has even started an organization (Association of Clinical Research and Educators) for the purpose of advancing his viewpoint. Dr. Stossel is the brother of well known libertarian and Fox News commentator John Stossel and seems to be expressing a similar libertarian view on biomedical research. Especially interesting considering the apparent strength of his beliefs is his recent publication in Nature Biotechnology in which he claims to prove that those who hold an opposing point of view are biased.

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