The Ethics of Industry-Funded Speakers’ Bureaus—How They Disseminate Innovation and Could Corrupt Medicine

Authors

Jennifer E. Miller
Christopher Robertson, Boston University School of LawFollow

Author granted license

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-17-2025

ISSN

2574-3805

Publisher

JAMA Network

Language

en-US

Abstract

It is often said that a business without marketing is dead. But when a medical product is marketed irresponsibly, it is patients who may pay with their lives. In this context, Wieberdink et al¹ examine participation in industry-sponsored speakers’ bureaus by academic clinical faculty, conceptualizing the practice as a form of conflicted and irresponsible pharmaceutical marketing. Reviewing 129 US allopathic medical school conflict-of-interest (COI) policies, they found that less than 40% prohibit industry speakers’ bureau participation outright, while 19% impose conditional restrictions, such as requiring that faculty retain control over presentation content. Wieberdink et al¹ advocate for a total ban.

This perspective examines whether such a ban is justified, contextualizing the speakers’ bureau model within its epistemic, regulatory, and historical dimensions. We conclude that even if banned by universities, industry likely would redirect funding to other channels of influence, a phenomenon akin to placing a finger in a stream only to see the water flow around it. To truly reduce economic COIs from biopharmaceutical companies in the production and dissemination of medical product evidence, as Wieberdink et al¹ support, would require a complete overhaul of the US health care system, including who is funded as well as how clinical trials, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), medical journals, and continuing medical education are funded. Absent such a full overhaul, we conclude with a practical strategy for reducing conflicts from speakers’ bureau participation in the educational sector.

Recommended Citation

Jennifer E. Miller & Christopher Robertson, The Ethics of Industry-Funded Speakers’ Bureaus—How They Disseminate Innovation and Could Corrupt Medicine , 8 Jama Network Open e2532331 (2025).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/4124