2023/03/02 by Joseph M. Gabriel, Sukumar P. Desai · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Medicine · Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics · #Historical Medical Research and Treatments #Medical History and Innovations #Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare
paper · doi:10.1093/jhmas/jrad011
openalex publication_date 2023/03/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/05
This paper examines anesthesiologist Henry K. Beecher's funding relationship with pharmaceutical manufacturer Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr. Beecher is a familiar figure to both medical ethicists and historians of medicine for his role in the bioethics revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. In particular, his 1966 article "Ethics and Clinical Research" is widely considered a turning point in the post-World War II debate about informed consent. We argue that Beecher's scientific interests should be understood in the context of his funding relationship with Mallinckrodt and that this relationship shaped the direction of his work in important ways. We also argue that Beecher's views on research ethics reflected his assumption that collaboration with industry was a normal part of how academic science is conducted. In the conclusion of the paper we suggest that Beecher's failure to consider his relationship with Mallinckrodt as worthy of ethical deliberation has important lessons for academic researchers who collaborate with industry today.