On May 14, 2001, NCCAM convened a colloquium to begin a dialogue with two key stakeholder groups: industrial stakeholders that produce, label, and market CAM therapeutics (e.g., dietary supplements and other biologically based treatments) and organizations that develop and apply standards to determine quality and safety of these products. Chaired by Myron S. Weinberg, Ph.D., Chairman, The Weinberg Group, Inc., the meeting was planned jointly with representatives of the two key stakeholder groups and Paul M. Coates, Ph.D., Director of the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements.

More than 200 representatives of industry, the CAM and conventional research communities, third-party payers, consumers, organizations that produce and disseminate compendia of information; regulatory law; government agencies; CAM and conventional practitioners; media; and NCCAM advisory groups attended.

The goals of the meeting were:

• To begin a dialogue regarding how NCCAM and industry can work together to definitively evaluate CAM therapeutic products for composition, safety, and efficacy; and
• To obtain input from the broad stakeholder community

Afternoon panels were charged with addressing the questions of how we can work together to 1) generate information on efficacy and safety of CAM therapeutics and 2) to address issues of quality. To inform these discussions, speakers apprised colloquium participants of NCCAM's legislative mandate and progress toward fulfilling this mandate; the perspectives regarding the potential for collaboration of NCCAM and of the producers of raw materials, manufacturers, and marketers of CAM therapeutics as well as that of groups involved in quality assessment; an overview of food, drug and dietary supplement law; and an overview of the existing models for NIH-Industry collaboration.

The detailed agenda provides speaker names and affiliations. Speakers' presentations will be available soon.