NOKC, Norway
In health technology assessment ”conflict of interest” relates to two issues:
- conflict of interest in published studies (authors, sponsors) and
- conflict of interest of the people involved in the HTA.
The issue of conflict of interest in published studies may interfere with the objectivity of the study. All studies should declare conflict of interest from all authors, and how the study was sponsored.
How does the issue of conflict in publications apply to HTA?
Conflict of interest relates to the fact that sponsoring from industry has been associated with restricted or selective publication of data. Thus, such studies may introduce bias if industry sponsored studies tend to more often report positive results (which they actually do), and withhold data from studies showing no or harmful effects. Thus should studies may introduce the bias of overestimating the effectiveness of the technology.
Conflict of interest may also apply to those involved an HTA whether researchers or clinical experts. This conflict of interest should be declared in the final HTA report, and is referred to in the INAHTA checklist.
When considering conflict of interest the issue relates not only to financial interests but also other issues such as allocation of money for research etc.
In Norway conflict of interest is declared by all involved in the HTA-process.
The issue of competing interests could be viewed in relation to the issue of conflict of interest and the fact that different interests may compete with each other, and thus relate to the comments above. On the other hand competing interests may also apply to the process of HTA.
- Do we have competing interests in HTA? And if yes, how does competing interests apply to the HTA-process?
- Do we have competing interests when prioritising technologies for assessment (for instance do we prioritise questions from our payers – and are these questions the important questions for society?
- Do we have competing interest when selecting studies for assessment (for instance use of confidential data versus open access data)?
- Do we have other competing interests?