Dispute over conflicts of interests leads to changes for medical society

After a year of controversy over the influence of drug industry money, conflicts of interests and lack of transparency, members of the International Continence Society (ICS) last week decided to postpone an election for a new general secretary and to review and possibly rewrite the constitution of the society and its ethical guidelines.

“In three days we've made five years' worth of progress. We have managed to re-establish trust between the involved parties, and this should go a long way towards resolving our problems. We all agreed that the wellbeing of the society should be our highest priority,” said Hans Peter Dietz, associate professor in obstetrics and gynaecology at Sydney University, a vocal critic of industry influence.

The review comes as a result of a dispute within the society stemming from growing unease that industry money is influencing scientific discourse in the medical society. …