The highest administrative court in France has ruled that guidelines issued by the French Health Authority must be withdrawn immediately because of potential bias and undeclared conflicts of interest among the authors. Other guidelines are also being reviewed and will be withdrawn if similar problems emerge, the authority has said.

The French Council of State (Conseil d’Etat) made the ruling on 27 April, two years after doctors with the non-profit organisation Formindep (Formation Indépendante) charged that the guideline development process for the authority’s guidelines on type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease “contravened national law on conflicts of interests and the agency’s own internal rules.”

In a news release issued on 20 June Formindep stated …