미국의 보건의료 관련 기업(제약회사, 민간의료보험회사, 생명공학회사, 의료기기 회사 등)의 41%가 대학 등 아카데미 영역에 종사하고 있는 이들을 이사로 두고 있다고 합니다. 이들이 현금이나 스톡옵션으로 받는 보수는 대학 교수 봉급과 비슷하거나 훨씬 많다고 하네요. 비영리 기관인 대학의 교수로 있으면서, 영리 기업의 이사로 재직함에 따라 발생하는 “이해관계 충돌” 문제는 어떻게 해결하면 좋을까요? 보건의료 관련 기업 이사나 사장을 하는 의과대학 교수 문제는 한국에도 심각한 문제입니다… 지금 한국에서 보건복지부 장관을 하고 있는 분을 비롯해서 말이죠…
What is already known on this topic
- Academic leaders frequently serve on pharmaceutical industry boards of directors and receive substantial cash compensation that results in conflicts of interest between their academic and industry roles
- Until now the prevalence of these relationships among other members of academia and other sectors of healthcare has been lacking
What this study adds
- Nearly 1 in 10 US for profit healthcare company directorships are held by academically affiliated individuals, including academic leaders, professors, and trustees from 85 major non-profit academic institutions
- 41% of publicly traded US healthcare companies included at least one academically affiliated director, and these directors received substantial cash fees and stock shares for serving as directors
- Dual obligations to for profit companies and non-profit academic institutions create diverse individual and institutional conflicts that vary in gravity and reconcilability depending on an individual’s academic roles; these conflicts have not been fully addressed by previous guidelines and warrant additional review, regulation, and, in some cases, prohibition when conflicts cannot be reconciled
