Healthy Skepticism Library item: 7995

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

Tanne JH.
US clinical guidelines often influenced by industry, NEJM says
BMJ 2007 Jan 27; 334:(7586):171
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/334/7586/171

Notes:

Many clinical guidelines for doctors in the United States are influenced by the pharmaceutical industry and special interest groups, said an article in the New England Journal of Medicine last week (2007;356:331-3).

“The quality of guidelines varies considerably,” and some are controversial, says a commentary by the journal’s national correspondent, Robert Steinbrook.

Meanwhile, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) cancelled a conference that it had planned on guidelines for screening pregnant women for herpes, after it received a protest letter from the Center for Science in the Public Interest. The organisation’s letter said that four out of five of the speakers had undisclosed ties to drug firms that made antiviral drugs (BMJ 2007;334:115).

The letter was signed by Richard Horton, editor of the Lancet; two former editors of the New England Journal of Medicine, Marcia Angell and Jerome Kassirer; 41 other physicians and scientists, including the head . . .