Article Defending Nicotine Replacement Therapy Fails to Disclose Author ' s Conflict of Interest with Big Pharma

In another example that demonstrates the hidden influence of Big Pharma on tobacco treatment policy and the extent to which many defenders of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) are going to hide their conflicts of interest, anarticle (letter to the editor/reply) defending NRT from criticism that was published online ahead of print in theJournal of Clinical Epidemiology fails to disclose the serious conflicts of interest of its lead author.The article is a response to apaper published recently in theJournal which concludes that once one accounts for publication bias, there is no significant effect of NRT on smoking cessation.The published article (a PDF of the accepted manuscript) does not disclose any conflicts of interest that the authors may have. There is no conflict of interest statement at all.The Rest of the StoryThe rest of the story is that the lead author has a long string of financial relationships with pharmaceutical companies, including some that manufacture drugs for smoking cessation, such as NRT.In 2016, the lead author was the recipient of aPfizer research award for the study of nicotine dependence. That announcement reports that he " has received consulting fees, honoraria and grants from several for-profit and non-profit organizations that develop smoking-cessation devices, medications, and services, including Pfizer. "The lead author ' sonline CV acknowledges that he has performed consulting services for: " Abbot Laboratories,Acrux Ltd, ALZA Corporation, Am...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs