University of Minnesota medical school pares rules on conflicts of interest

Last year, the people crafting new conflict-of-interest rules for the University of Minnesota Medical School touted them as some of the toughest in the nation. The 13-page draft banned gifts to faculty, researchers, and students from drug and medical device companies. It barred the companies from funding continuing education, and established strict guidelines for reporting industry relationships, including disclosure to patients and the public. But six months later, a slimmed-down, two-page version bearing a few notable changes is winding its way through the university's bureaucracy toward approval by the Board of Regents.