Safeguards ostensibly put in place to ensure “a transparent process of development for the DSM,” and an “unbiased, evidence-based DSM, free from any conflicts of interest” have failed to do so. Rather, 69% of DSM-5 task force members have ties to the pharmaceutical industry, an increase of 21% over the proportion of DSM-IV task force members with such ties. Moreover, limits on payments from pharmaceuticals do not apply to research grants. These findings appear in a study published today in PLoS Medicine.
“Nothing has really changed,” says Lisa Cosgrove, one of the study’s authors, in an article in New Scientist, “transparency alone can’t mitigate bias.”
