Some experts have raised concerns about the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s (MSK) financial interests and conflicts connected with a New Jersey hospital and analytics startup, STAT reports.
According to the report, MSK in 2016 entered into an agreement with Hackensack Meridian Health which gave the cancer center access to more patients and an edge in the cancer care market. Within a year after the deal, the cancer center invested $1.4 million in Cota, a data analytics startup, which was founded by a Hackensack Meridian executive and oncologist, Dr. Andrew Pecora.
The network of financial interests established in the collaborations puts MSK in a tight spot, Arizona State University Professor and bioethics expert Robert Cook-Deegan tells STAT.
“It sets up the potential for bias,” he said. “It’s all perceived to be part of their business interests. You cant’ play that game and at the same time retain the perception as being a white hat to the patient.”
