Incomplete Financial Disclosures in an Editorial, Clinical Crossroads, and Reply Letter Related to Herpes Zoster
- Richard J. Whitley, MD rwhitley{at}peds.uab.eduDepartment of PediatricsUniversity of Alabama at Birmingham
To the Editor: I would like to report incomplete financial disclosures related to an Editorial,1 a Clinical Crossroads article,2 and a subsequent reply to a letter to the editor3 published in JAMA. This resulted from my misinterpretation of JAMA requirements for reporting conflicts of interest. As I noted previously,1,2,3 I am on the board of directors of Gilead Sciences and a consultant for Chimerix; I receive compensation and stock from both companies. Neither company is involved in the development of drugs to treat herpesvirus infections. However, I did not report 3 financial disclosure issues.
First, I have served as a consultant for Fermavir, which was purchased by Inhibitex in 2004, a company developing a drug to treat herpes zoster; this drug (FV-100) entered phase 2 studies in July 2009. I did receive stock and compensation from Fermavir and Inhibitex. Second, I received compensation from GlaxoSmithKline for 4 grand rounds presentations between 2004 and 2005. Third, I served as a consultant to Novartis in 2005. In my Clinical Crossroads article, I stated that the drugs manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline (valacyclovir) and Novartis (famciclovir) to treat herpes zoster were equivalent in efficacy.
I truly regret my failure to report these disclosures in the articles and letter reply and apologize to both the editors and the readers of JAMA for this. I am a firm believer in transparency and believe that it is mandatory in academic efforts. I am sorry that I mistakenly interpreted the JAMA requirements. The complete disclosure information is provided below and in accompanying corrections.
Published Online: January 26, 2010 (doi:10.1001/jama.2010.109).
Financial Disclosures: Dr Whitley reported that he received support from the National Institutes of Health for the conduct of studies on herpes zoster between 1973 and 1996. Clinical trial data on the natural history of herpes zoster since the completion of controlled trials were analyzed through the support of contract N0-1-AI30025. Dr Whitley reported that he also serves on the board of directors of Gilead Sciences and is a consultant to Chimerix, and receives compensation and stock from both companies; has served as a consultant for Fermavir, which was purchased by Inhibitex in 2004, and reports receiving stock and compensation from both companies; has received compensation from GlaxoSmithKline for grand rounds presentations between 2004 and 2005; and served as a consultant to Novartis in 2005.
Letters Section Editor: Robert M. Golub, MD, Senior Editor.
