AASLD and IDSA clinical guidelines fall short of conflict of interest standards

MDedge
Prominent clinical guidelines fall short of conflict of interest standards

In research published online Jan. 17, Akilah A. Jefferson, MD, and Steven D. Pearson, MD, both of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., re-examined conflict of interest disclosures for the 2013 American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association cholesterol management guideline, as well as for the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and Infectious Diseases Society of America’s joint 2014 guideline related to novel drug treatments for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.

For the cholesterol guidelines, the investigators found that while the committee members fell below the threshold with only 44% reporting commercial conflicts, one writing chair had multiple conflicts until about 1 year before guideline development began, an analysis of concurrent publications suggested. For the HCV guidelines, meanwhile, 72% of the committee members reported commercial conflicts, along with four out of six committee cochairs. An analysis of concurrent publications revealed incomplete disclosure of conflicts among authors of both guidelines (JAMA Intern Med. 2017 Jan 17. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.8439).
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NPR

From Twitter To Treatment Guidelines, Industry Influence Permeates Medicine
Two committees that developed guidelines for the management of high cholesterol and hepatitis C did not fully comply with standards set by the Institute of Medicine in 2011 to limit the number of industry-funded panelists. The Institute of Medicine required that fewer than half of guideline writers have commercial ties and that all chairs and co-chairs have no conflicts. But in both cases, at least one chairperson received money from industry and, in the case of the hepatitis C guidelines, a substantial majority of panelists also received money.

Moreover, the authors noted, when separate committees with no commercial conflicts developed guidelines for cholesterol and hepatitis C, the recommendations were more conservative and called for less expensive first-line treatments.
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Healio
Increased conflict of interest policies needed for guideline committees, advocacy organizations
The guideline for cholesterol by the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association, as well as the guideline for hepatitis C virus treatment by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and Infectious Diseases Society of America did not fully meet the Institute of Medicine standards for commercial conflict of interest management, according to studies published in JAMA Internal Medicine. The authors noted that modest or substantial industry support was common among many patient advocacy organizations, and that such support could influence their positions.
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