A university medical school task force recommends prohibiting faculty, medical residents and students from receiving gifts from drug and device makers, according to an unreleased report obtained by The Minnesota Daily, the university’s newspaper. Docs would also be required to disclose all relationships with a drugmaker before writing a prescription and create a website to report conflicts.

“The objective is to provide greater openness and transparency,” Leo Furcht, co-chair of the task force, tells the paper. “Really, to take a hard look at ourselves and make recommendations…We think there’s no place in medical education and the delivery of care for gifts to physicians.”

The university received more than $700,000 from drugmakers, with $238,000 tied to clinical studies and research between 2002 and 2004, the paper writes, citing data from Public Citizen. A report from the American Medical Student Association released last summer gave the medical school a ‘D’ for its current policies (look here).

The report listed the fact that most, but not all, financial relationships require a review by a school committee as one of the reasons for the low score. Under the proposed policies, all financial relationships between faculty and the medical industry would require disclosure, not just those under the $10,000 threshold that currently defines a “significant financial interest,” according to the report.

Minnesota Public Radio broadcast a piece about the report. Take a listen…

Hat tip to Integrity in Science Watch