Editorial

PERSPECTIVES IN BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE Volume 23 ¦ Number 2, Part 2 ¦ Winter 1980 EDITORIAL OnJune 5, 6, and 7, 1979, the University ofChicago's Center for Policy Study sponsored a national conference on the plight ofclinical investigation in the United States. The conference and this publication of the papers and edited discussion were very kindly financed by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, the Commonwealth Foundation, the Burroughs Wellcome Foundation, and the Gould Foundation. The conference was generated by University of Chicago faculty members . They invited essayists, formal discussants, and other conference members with the view of including articulate and thoughtful spokesmen from academia, the pharmaceutical industry, the National Institutes of Health, the Veterans Administration, organized medicine, the legislative branch of the federal government, the legal profession, and the scientific press (see Appendix for list of participants). The importance and timeliness of the subject and the effectiveness of presentations led a number of participants to suggest publication of the proceedings in a Perspectives in Biology and Medicine supplement rather than a book. Since the subject was ofobvious interest to manyPerspectives readers and funding was provided, it was a pleasure to comply.—R.L.L. Perspectives in Biology and Mediane · Winter 1980 ¦ Part 2 Sl ...