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CFPC Guideline Endorsement Criteria – Response
We would like to thank Dr Phillips for his letter1 recognizing that the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC), along with many other family medicine organizations and groups, is leading the way in transparency and reduction of bias within clinical practice guidelines (CPG) (2).
We would also like to thank Dr Lexchin for his letter (3) stressing the important and concerning influence of financial support on clinical practice guidelines. In drafting these CPG endorsement criteria, this factor was a principal consideration in our deliberation and discussion.
We would like to draw a distinction between guidelines produced by the CFPC and those which it reviews from other organizations. Clinical practice guidelines produced by the CFPC, in collaboration with PEER (Patients Experience Education Research), have the highest standards, including the exclusion of anyone with a financial conflict of interest from participation on guideline committees or the evidence team. And no funding from the pharmaceutical or medical device industries, direct or indirect, is accepted for any guideline development itself.
For endorsement of guidelines submitted from outside the CFPC, we recognize that many institutions struggle to completely exclude funding or financial conflicts with industry. The CFPC Guideline and Knowledge Translation Expert Working Group, which approved these criteria, also felt that the...
Show MoreCompeting Interests: None declared.