World Oncology Forum and commercial sponsorship – Authors' reply

Abstract

1624 www.thelancet.com Vol 381 May 11, 2013 Author’s reply Alain Braillon questions why the endnote to the Stop Cancer Now! appeal indicates that the World Oncology Forum was “totally independent of commercial sponsorship”. The reason is that the credibility of the World Oncology Forum and of the Stop Cancer Now! appeal depends on their freedom from infl uence by commercial interests, so we felt it was important to add this point. World Oncology Forum was largely funded by an exceptional donation from European School of Oncology (ESO)’s two sustaining foundations, which are independent and not-forprofi t, and receive no commercial funding. The balance of the funding was kindly provided by the Swiss Cancer League, Swiss Cancer Research Foundation, the Canton of Ticino authorities, and the City of Lugano. Regarding the part played by journalists at the World Oncology Forum, discussions about strategies and priorities for cancer control require perspectives from beyond the ranks of health professionals, and inviting journalists from leading international newspapers to participate, challenge assumptions and pose diffi cult questions, added great value to the debate. The names and affi liations of all the participating journalists, and links to articles reporting some of the discussions at the World Oncology Forum, are available. As for ESO, which organised the World Oncology Forum in partnership with The Lancet, most of its funding (77%) comes from its two independent, not-for-profi t foundations. It is certainly true that some of its programmes are carried out with the help of commercial funding. This is done through a Sharing Progress in Cancer Care (SPCC) programme, which is a partnership that currently includes 13 companies, all of which are listed on the ESO website. As part of this partnership, each company gives an annual grant which is totally unrestricted. The total amount of the pooled resources are used to fund partially ESO’s Masterclass in Clinical Oncology and Cancer World Magazine. None of the SPCC members have any infl uence over the content of either of these activities.