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NEWS: Jeanne Lenzer Doctors’ group files legal charges against nine French doctors BMJ 2009; 338: b2347 [Full text]

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Insufficiant information on the management of conflicts of interest at HAS

Laurent Degos   (25 June 2009)

Insufficiant information on the management of conflicts of interest at HAS 25 June 2009
Laurent Degos, Chairman of the Board of French National Authority for Health St Denis la Plaine, 93200, France Send response to journal: Re: Insufficiant information on the management of conflicts of interest at HAS	The French National Authority for Health (Haute Autorité de Santé, HAS) finds that the issue of how competing interests are managed in France has been addressed in too simplistic a manner in a recent article (BMJ 2009 ;338:b2347) . Moreover, HAS regrets that a health care professional who is unanimously recognized for her professional competencies and her commitment to patients could be named in this article. HAS would like to stress that it has published comprehensive rules to address the issue of experts’ competing interests (http://www.has- sante.fr/portail/upload/docs/application/pdf/guide_dpi.pdf). The nomination of Prof. Florence Pasquier as chair of the Alzheimer’s disease working group of the HAS is based on the objective assessment of her qualifications taking into account competing interests. HAS would like to confirm its commitment on this nomination. Finally, HAS would like to stress the necessity to address the issue of experts’ competing interests in a comprehensive and constructive way and to take into account recent international developments in this field. Laurent Degos, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine - Chairman of the Board of French National Authority for Health Competing interests: None declared