US clinical guidelines often influenced by industry, NEJM says

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 …