Every month PRIM&R features a series of articles from academic journals, popular media, and other outlets in the PRIM&R Member Newsletter. As we begin 2016, we look back at some of the most popular stories from 2015. From conflicts of interest to changes to the Common Rule, these articles reflect the major issues, questions, and topics faced by the research ethics community over the past year.

January: “Patients Seek ‘Right to Try’ New Drugs” The New York Times

February (2): “What Does the Common Rule Have to Do With CIA Interrogations?” Quorum Blog and “Look to Animals to Cure Ebola” The Baltimore Sun

March: “Human Subjects Protections Under Fire at the University of Minnesota” ScienceInsider

April: “Have Research Ethics Committees Got It Wrong? A New Study Looks at What Participants in Medical Research Actually Want” Huffington Post

May (2): “Addiction Research and Care Collide With Federal Privacy Rules” The New York Times and “Apple Has Plans for Your DNA” MIT Technology Review

June: “Are Financial Conflicts of Interest in Medical Research Overblown?” New Republic

July (2): “Conflicts of Interest on Institutional Review Boards Remain Problematic” The Wall Street Journal Pharmalot and “What Should Investigators Be Doing with Unexpected Findings in Brain Imaging Research?“ Journal of Medical Ethics Blog

August: “The Moral Imperative for Bioethics” The Boston Globe (Read PRIM&R’s response to this editorial.) 

September: “A Scientific Look at Bad Science” The Atlantic

October: “Ethical issues surround plans for U.K. womb transplants” CBS News

November: “FDA approves Amgen drug that uses herpes as a Trojan horse to destroy melanoma cells” U.S. News & World Report

December (2): “Bacteria on the Brain” The New Yorker and “A Controversial Rewrite For Rules To Protect Humans In Experiments” NPR [This second article features comments from PRIM&R’s Executive Director, Elisa A. Hurley, PhD. ]

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