Roger Chou ’s Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest: How the CDC’s 2016 Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain Lost Its Clinical and Professional Integrity

by Chad D. Kollas MD, Terri A. Lewis PhD, Beverly Schechtman and Carrie Judy“I ' m present. Uh … I do have a conflict. I receive funding to conduct reviews on opioids, and I ' ll be recusing myself after the um, director ' s, uh, um, um, uh … update.”- Dr. Roger Chou, Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) Board of Scientific Counselors (BSC) Meeting Friday, July 16, 2021.IntroductionFor those familiar with the controversial relationship between the anti-opioid advocacy group, Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing (PROP, recently renamed, Health Professionals for Responsible Opioid Prescribing), and the Centers for Disease Control ’s CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain — United States, 2016, (2) (hereafter called “the 2016 Guideline”), Dr. Roger Chou’s disclosure represented a stunning admission (3, 4). Chou had originally announced his intention to help influence opioid policy in a 2011 article t hat he co-authored with PROP’s founders (5), and he was a bold signatory to PROP’s 2012 Petition to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to change opioid labeling (6; See Figures 1a and 1b: First page and signatory page.)Figure 1a: First Page of PROP Petition to FDAFigure 1b: Signatory Page of PROP Petition to FDAThrough his participation in these PROP activities, Chou established himself as a significant contributor to PROP efforts. Yet he never formally served as a...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - Category: Palliative Care Tags: CDC judy kollas lewis opioid pain schechtman Source Type: blogs