BMJ  2007;334:171 (27 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.39104.406065.DB

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US clinical guidelines often influenced by industry, NEJM says

Janice Hopkins Tanne

1 New York

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

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 . . . [Full text of this article]


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