The North American Spine Society has announced that researchers must disclose not only that they receive money from medical device makers but also the sum of those consulting fees, reports the Wall Street Journal.
The policy is not simply a recommendation, but a requirement for all society members, and would appear to be the first mandatory reporting policy of its kind. Time will tell whether the NASS becomes a trendsetter for medical associations in other medical specialities or whether spinal surgeons and spine researchers will remain alone as the lone rangers in full disclosures to their professional society about their relationships to industry.
Summer Johnson, PhD