CYIL vol. 14 (2023)

CYIL 14 (2023) CONFLICT OF INTEREST IN MEDICAL RESEARCH extent entrusted to the research institution, i.e., the employer of the researcher participating in the funded research (e.g., NIH). Whereas in the US and on the EU level, conflicts of interest in (medical) research are recognized and paid attention to via extensive regulations and/or policies, in the Czech Republic the attention paid to conflicts of interest in medical research seems to be rather low. There are numerous legal provisions prohibiting conflict of interest in the context of duplicate functions, affiliations, employment, or roles concerning the procedure of research application and its independent evaluation, yet only a few on defining which types of external relationships of researchers might create the risk to unduly influenced research and how to manage those. The existing legal framework basically lacks any detailed implementation, irrespective of whether in the form of a policy or other internal regulations. In my opinion, there is hardly any evidence for the assumption that conflicts of interest in medical research are being identified and managed to the extent prevalent elsewhere. As I was questioning the internal procedures relevant to the disclosure and management of researchers’ conflicts of interest, I did not provide any specific definition of conflict of interest when focusing on the Czech Science Foundation and the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic. Even though my query was unofficial, both Agencies provided me promptly and in detail with the publicly accessible and internal regulations on conflicts of interest. Based on the information received, I can assume that they both operate within the fundamental requirements set out by current Czech and European Law. However, no excessive internal regulations were adopted to supplement the Law and to enhance research integrity standards. Neither Agency seems to have included a special Disclosure Form as part of the application documentation, requesting additional details regarding financial or other external relationships of researchers applying for a research project. There are also no specific conflict-of-interest strategies on how to manage an identified conflict of interest of a researcher participating in a research project. 109 As far as the State Institute for Drug Control is concerned, it has such a Disclosure Form. Nevertheless, it remains unclear 110 how the form is interpretated and what (if any) is the further management of potentially disclosed conflicts of interest. Even though Czech (medical) research might currently face other great challenges and therefore conflicts of interest are not perceived as a number one priority, the lack of attention paid to them is, in my perspective, a reflection of how the concept of research integrity in general is undervalued in the Czech Republic. To my knowledge, apart from the 2005 Recommendation on the Ethical Framework for Research, there is no national policy being prepared on research integrity, which would also include detailed conflict-of interest management strategies, nor even any policy being discussed on the national level. However, based on the information received from the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, in spring 2023, the Interdepartmental Working Group on Countering Illegitimate Influence in the Higher Education and Research Environment has been 109 However, my queries might have started some internal debate within the Agencies, as I was asked to send this paper to the Technological Agency of the Czech Republic after it is complete, and was informed by the Czech Science Foundation that they acknowledge my query and will investigate the issue further. 110 Via email received on August 8, 2023, I have been informed that I will be provided with a Statement written by the Institute.

391