Healthy Skepticism Library item: 6944

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

McMasters KM.
Disclosure of authors' conflicts of interest--a follow-up.
N Engl J Med 2000 Jul 13; 343:(2):146

Abstract:

In the February 24th issue, 19 cases were identified in which authors of Drug Therapy articles were in violation of the Journal ‘s conflict-of-interest policy for review articles and editorials. According to this policy, “authors of such articles will not have any financial interest in a company (or its competitor) that makes a product discussed in the article.” Although no wrongdoing was implied, one cannot look at this matter without thinking that, in some small way, the authors have been discredited. There are several problems with the Journal ‘s analysis of these cases. First, only the Drug Therapy articles have been reviewed for violation of the conflict-of-interest policy. However, the policy applies equally to other types of review articles and editorials. Why was the policy not enforced for these articles as well? The Journal has focused on pharmaceutical companies, but clearly, review articles and editorials related to biotechnology, diagnostic tests, medical devices, new procedures, and so forth should be examined in the same light.

Keywords:
*letter to the editor/United States/conflict-of-interest/ETHICAL ISSUES IN PROMOTION: MEDICAL JOURNAL EDITORSHIP/SPONSORSHIP: RESEARCH Conflict of Interest* Drug Industry Drug Therapy Humans Publishing/standards* Research Support* Review Literature