Conflict of Interest and Medicine

Knowledge, Practices, and Mobilizations

Boris Hauray, Henri Boullier, Jean-Paul Gaudillière and Hélène Michel (Eds)
9/2021, Routledge, 270p.
ISBN 9780367751159

 - Lien vers le site de l'éditeur -

Présentation de l'éditeur

In the context of a growing criticism on the influence of the pharmaceutical industry on physicians,  scientists, or politicians, Conflict of Interest and Medicine offers a comprehensive analysis of the conflict of interest in medicine anchored in the social sciences, with perspectives from sociology, history, political science, and law.

Based on in-depth empirical investigations conducted within different territories (France, the European Union, and the United States) the contributions analyze the development of conflict of interest as a social issue and how it impacts the production of medical knowledge and expertise, physicians’ work and their prescriptions, and also the framing of health crises and controversies. In doing so, they bring a new understanding of the transformations in the political economy of pharmaceutical knowledge, the politicization of public health risks, and the promotion of transparency in science and public life.

Complementing the more normative and quantitative understandings of conflict of interest issues that dominate today, this book will be of interest to researchers in a broad range of areas including social studies of sciences and technology, sociology of health and illness, and political sociology and ethics. It will be also a valuable resource for health professionals, medical scientists, or regulators facing the question of corporate influence.

Table des matières

Introduction: Conflict of Interest and the Politics of Biomedicine

Part 1. Knowledge and Expertise

1. A Genealogy of Conflict of Interest, Boris Hauray

2. "Conflict of Interest" or Simply "Interest"? Shifting Values in Translational Medicine,
Melanie Jeske

3. Managing Conflicts of Interest at the European Medicines Agency: Success or Weakness of the Soft Law Tools?, Annie Martin

4. From the Management of Conflicts of Interest to the Transformation of Medical Experts’ Profiles. The Members of the Transparency Committee in France (2000–2020), Jérôme Greffion and Hélène Michel

Part 2. Physicians and the Framing of Prescription Practices

5. Conflicts of Interest in Medical Practice: Causes and Cures, Marc Rodwin

6. In Whose Best Interest? Framing Pharmacists’ and Physicians’ (Conflicts of) Interest in the French Market for Generic Drugs, Etienne Nouguez

7. The Politics of Industrial Transparency. Constructing a Database on the Pharmaceutical Funding of the Health Sector, Henri Boullier and Jérôme Greffion

8. Scientific Marketing and Conflict of Interest: Lessons From the Hormone Replacement Therapies (HRT) Crisis, Jean-Paul Gaudillière

Part 3. Mobilizations and Controversies

9. "This Corporation Has ‘Anesthetized’ the Actors in the Drug Chain". Influence Peddling and the Normality of Conflicts of Interest in the Mediator® Scandal, Solène Lellinger and Christian Bonah

10. For Science, by Science. The Emergence and Circulation of Conflict of Interest as a Protest Repertoire to Fight Against Pesticides, Giovanni Prete, Jean-Noël Jouzel and François Dedieu

11. Conflict of interest, Capture, Production of Ignorance, and Hegemony: Conceptualizing the Influence of Corporate Interests on Public Health, Henri Boullier, Jean-Paul Gaudillière, Boris Hauray and Emmanuel Henry

Postface: Conflict of Interest, Industry Hegemony and Key Opinion Leader Management, Sergio Sismondo