February 23, 2000
In an extraordinary apology to readers, the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine admitted violating its financial conflict-of-interest policy 19 times over the past three years in its selection of doctors to review new drug treatments.
The Boston-based weekly journal, considered one of the world's premier medical publications, disclosed in Thursday's issue that it let doctors who had financial ties to the drug makers write the articles.
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Angell said the stricter policy for review articles is difficult to maintain because "there's so much connection between academia and the private sector now."