‘They would say that, wouldn’t they? ’ A reader’s guide to author and sponsor biases in clinical research

‘This study was funded by (Company A). Professor XYZ has received honoraria and travel support for lectures and advisory boards, as well as research grants, from (Company A) and (Company B).’ Commercial sponsorship of clinical research, especially for drugs, is ubiquitous. One of the solutions to some of the dilemmas arising from this is full disclosure of authors’ financial interests and relationships with sponsors. But is disclosure enough, and what should we as readers make of the fine print at the end of journal articles? Is sponsorship bias the only bias we should watch out for? The arguments for and against are familiar. In one corner, people accuse researchers of having sold out; no one should believe anything that Professor XYZ now says. From the other corner, people energetically defend academics ’ integrity and argue that we can pretty muc