Failure to Disclose

AFP's conflict-of-interest policy¹ states: “To avoid bias or the perception of bias, AFP will not consider manuscripts sponsored directly or indirectly by a pharmaceutical company, medical communications company, or other commercial entity, or those written by an author who has a financial relationship with or interest in any commercial entity that may have an interest in the subject matter of the article within the previous 36 months. It also includes serving on a commercial speaker's bureau or advisory board, or receiving commercial research support related to the subject matter of the article, as well as other relationships detailed in our conflict of interest policy.”

It has come to our attention that Dr. Ament, coauthor of the article “Reducing Adverse Effects of Proton Pump Inhibitors” (July 1, 2012, p. 66), failed to disclose his financial relationships with Merck and Pfizer, which existed at the time of submission and publication of his article. He erroneously believed that these relationships, which focused on antibiotic use and stewardship, were not relevant to the subject of the article and did not need to be disclosed. Had we been aware of his relationship with Pfizer, which manufactures the proton pump inhibitor pantoprazole (Protonix), we would have declined to review the article, and it would not have been published. However, because the article has already been published, and because the U.S. National Library of Medicine recommends not removing published articles from their online status,² we are publishing this notice of failure to disclose, and have updated the disclosure status of the online version of the article.