Conflict of interest: Can we minimize its influence in the biomedical literature?

Two articles in the Ethics Feature of the current issue highlight the growing concerns with the validity of the biomedical literature and recommended guidelines for clinical practice. Genuis 1 and Abramson and Starfield 2 discuss the influence of commercial funding on clinical practice guidelines. Genuis emphasizes the need to be wary of “standards of care” and for physicians to exercise independence in clinical practice. Abramson and Starfield present case studies that illustrate how pharmaceutical-sponsored research may affect biomedical publications, marketing, and ultimately medical practice. (Note: Although JABFP prefers to use the generic name of drugs, an exception to that policy has been made in the Abramson and Starfield article, because of its focus on the marketing of 2 name brands, rather than on the use or effectiveness of these medications.)