[Medical research and the pharmaceutical industry. Uneasy bedfellows or a prenuptial agreement?].

Recent publications in medical journals and the media seem to indicate that there are a number of major problems in the relationship between researchers and the pharmaceutical sector. Results of research allegedly are influenced or manipulated, the right to publish the results are taken away from the researchers, and all this for money. The underlying data do not seem to indicate that this is a very common problem, but rather a generalisation of incidents. To efficiently develop medicines in future requires an ever-growing amount of academic know-how that these companies simply lack; in modern pharmaceutical development there are many opportunities to connect academic and industrial research programmes, resulting in synergy rather than an academic sell-out. All parties concerned should make transparent and clear agreements.