Following public debate and the media's intense focus on questionable independency cases, the Danish government now strikes a blow for the cooperation between health care professionals and the industry, claiming the cooperation to be necessary and important as health care professionals possess useful knowledge for the industry.
The Minister for Health states that the rules need to be clearer - and the cooperation closer, emphasizing that the media's focus leads not only to insecurity for consumers and patients, but also to reluctance to deal with clinical trials among health care professionals.
In order to enhance clinical research in Denmark and stop the recent years' decrease in the number of clinical trials in Denmark, the Minister has appointed a Committee consisting of, among others, members from the various Danish industry boards, the Danish Patient Association and the Danish Medicinal Agency.
The committee will look into the needs for regulation and provide the Minister with suggestions for concrete initiatives on how to strike the balance on the cooperation between health care professionals and the industry by the summer of 2012.
It will be interesting to follow the work of the Committee and we welcome the initiatives by the Danish government to not only focus on the downsides of the cooperation between health care professionals and the industry.
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