Disclosure forms: What is revealed about the Emperor clothes?

摘要

In recent years it has become accepted that anyone submitting an article to a medical journal or making a scientific presentation should for ethical reasons disclose any financial interests that might have influenced their contents. The reasons for this are clear: there is abundant evidence that the results of studies with commercial support are significantly more likely than those without support to favour products under investigation,1-2 and presentations have been shown to influence audience behaviour in favour of products associated with the sponsor.3 This is of concern because it suggests that commercial interests have the capacity to influence, and maybe distort, the scientific record and to direct the behaviour of clinicians, thereby undermining the primary ethical commitment to patient welfare and the interests of society. A shift from ethical to commercial values as the basis of medicine and science would undermine the trust of the community in these important social institutions and thereby put them fundamentally at risk.