The leadership of the global Cochrane Collaboration is acting to allay fears that drug company funding could damage the organisation's independence and credibility.
Jim Neilson, a joint chairman of the collaboration, told the BMJ that the collaboration's international steering group was taking the issue seriously. "We are very conscious of the need to maintain the credibility and unbiased nature of Cochrane reviews."
The collaboration produces and disseminates systematic reviews of the evidence about healthcare interventions, and the question of industry funding has dominated its annual colloquium, being held this week in Barcelona, Spain.
The opening plenary session on Monday featured a heavily divided panel, followed by fiery contributions from the floor, in front of an audience of more than 600 who on several occasions expressed strong support for the idea of prohibiting industry sponsorship. Coincidentally, the debate was part sponsored by AstraZeneca, who paid for the simultaneous translation between Spanish and English.
Urging a prohibition, Peter Gøtzsche, director of the Nordic Cochrane Center, said drug company sponsorship would corrupt systematic reviews. Cindy Mulrow, deputy editor of the Annals of Internal Medicine, suggested a mechanism for accepting funding that would limit amounts from particular sources, direct funds to general accounts, and ensure that those who dispersed the money did not know its source.
The Cochrane Collaboration already has a policy discouraging sponsorship from companies with a vested interest in the outcome of a review, but the policy is increasingly ignored as some within the organisation argue that industry money is crucial to their survival.
Joaquim Camprubi from Merck Sharpe and Dohme, one of several drug company sponsors of the Cochrane meeting, said that financial ties between researchers and industry should be considered in a positive rather than a negative light.
Speaking against such sponsorship from the conference floor, Vasiliy Vlassov from the Russian branch of the Nordic Cochrane Center, cited an example from two years ago, when a drug company sought to sponsor a review of its product, provided that it was favourable.
Similarly, Martin Offringa, a joint director of the Dutch Cochrane Center, told the BMJ of examples where drug companies had offered funding for reviews, to make their products look "evidence based" for marketing purposes. When the Dutch centre declined and asked instead for generic funding for teaching reviewers, the funding was refused, Dr Offringa said.
Any formal change in policy will come from the collaboration's steering group, expected to make an announcement clarifying its policy late Wednesday (after the BMJ went to press).