Thanks to all for their interesting observations on important innovations.  I hope to receive a few more suggestions, and then will try to compile the results for the list.<br><br>Recent example of assertions that commercialized, and often conflicted clinical research and education have lead to all sorts of wonderful &quot;innovations&quot; appeared in an article expressing the European Society of Cardiology&#39;s position on conflicts of interest affecting continuing medical education (CME).<br>

<br>The reference is: <br>ESC Board.  Relations between professional medical associations and the health-care industry, concerning scientific communication and continuing medical education: a Policy Statement from the European Society of Cardiology.  Eur Heart J 2012; 33: 666-674.<br>
<br>The quotes are:<br>&quot;In recent decades, cardiology has been a fast-moving medical specialty.  Many advances have come from basic and clinical research conducted by universities and pharmaceutical and medical device companies.  Innovations have been realized in part through productive collaborations between clinicians, academia, and industry.&quot;  [No citations or examples provided.]<br>

<br>&quot;If a diagnostic or therapeutic advance in medicine cannot be commercialized, then it is unlikely to be widely promoted and it may not be implemented.&quot;  [No citations or examples provided.]<br><br>&quot;Cooperation between the academic and private sectors is important for medical research.&quot;  [Ditto] <br>
<br>Note that the article suggested no important toughening of restrictions on industry funding of or conflicts of interest affecting continuing medical education.  It did suggest disclosure, without acknowledging recent psychological studies suggesting disclosure may not be sufficient to reduce the risks posed by conflicts.  Ironically, it took a full page of text to list the disclosures affecting the authors of the article.<br clear="all">

<br>-- <br>Roy M. Poses MD FACP<br>President<br>Foundation for Integrity and Responsibility in Medicine (FIRM)<br><a href="mailto:[log in to unmask]" target="_blank"><a href="/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?LOGON=A3%3Dind1203%26L%3DEVIDENCE-BASED-HEALTH%26E%3Dquoted-printable%26P%3D3540247%26B%3D--f46d04428ff4b828a604bb3666d3%26T%3Dtext%252Fhtml%3B%2520charset%3DISO-8859-1%26pending%3D" target="_parent" >[log in to unmask]</a></a><br>Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine<br>

Alpert Medical School, Brown University<br><a href="mailto:[log in to unmask]" target="_blank"><a href="/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?LOGON=A3%3Dind1203%26L%3DEVIDENCE-BASED-HEALTH%26E%3Dquoted-printable%26P%3D3540247%26B%3D--f46d04428ff4b828a604bb3666d3%26T%3Dtext%252Fhtml%3B%2520charset%3DISO-8859-1%26pending%3D" target="_parent" >[log in to unmask]</a></a> <br><br>