[The influence of the pharmaceutical industry on treatment guidelines].
The Dutch Health Care Inspectorate has issued a short report on the influence pharmaceutical companies may have on the development process of clinical treatment guidelines in The Netherlands. The Inspectorate concludes that virtually all opinion leaders are financially supported by pharmaceutical companies, and therefore, potential conflicts of interest are unavoidable. The Inspectorate recommends making these potential conflicts of interest more transparent by means of the full disclosure of all connections, in particular those related to funding, between guideline committee members and pharmaceutical companies. In addition, the Inspectorate suggests that formally allowing pharmaceutical companies the opportunity to comment on draft versions of a guideline may reduce other undesirable initiatives that influence guidelines. Additional means of regulating the influence of pharmaceutical companies should be considered. One such additional measure could be a qualitative and quantitative limit on conflicts of interest e.g. substantial personal income from pharmaceutical companies should preclude guideline committee membership. In addition, an independent review committee who would judge whether a guideline shows signs of interference by pharmaceutical companies may be considered.
VU Medisch Centrum, Afd. Algemene Inwendige Geneeskunde, Postbus 7057, 1007 MB Amsterdam. y.smulders@vumc.nl
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D016265:Conflict of Interest; D004345:Drug Industry; D005378:Financial Support; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'