Over the last decade, institutional review boards have experienced a wave of commercialization, which for-profit IRBs now overseeing 70% of all U.S. clinical trials for drugs and medical devices.
The two leading IRBs are held in majority ownership by private equity firms, which are also investors in pharmaceutical and medical device companies. And from 2008-2014, the FDA reported twice as many violations and problems with commercial IRBs than with their nonprofit counterparts.
This raises serious questions about commercialized IRBs’ ability to provide ethical, unbiased reviews.
Salus IRB took a closer look at this important issue. Read the whitepaper.