Policy on Faculty Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest and Off-Label Use Policy

The Canadian Dermatology Association (CDA) requires that presentations be free of commercial bias and that any information regarding commercial products and/or services be based on scientific methods generally accepted by the medical community.

In order for the audience to properly evaluate information, analyses, and opinions presented during a CDA scientific session, they must be informed of anyone or anything that might significantly affect the speaker's attitude or judgment of the matter under consideration. In addition, it must be disclosed if a therapeutic recommendation is being made that has not received regulatory approval from Health Canada (off-label use).

CMA’s Guidelines for Physicians in Interactions with Industry requires presenters and all persons involved in the development of the presentation to disclose any financial relationships they have had over the previous two years. To satisfy this requirement, CDA asks that a disclosure statement be provided by each speaker and planning committee member when program content is being submitted. In addition to this disclosure statement, each speaker must provide an updated disclosure immediately prior to each presentation or indicate if no conflicts exist.

Disclosures made by the speakers and planning committee members must be meaningful and relevant to the presentation. It is not sufficient to simply enumerate a list with all the companies with whom a speaker or planning committee member has had a financial relationship. Meaningful disclosure includes an indication of the type(s) of financial relationship that have taken place, including, but not limited to the following:

• Advisory Board
• Board of Directors
• Clinical Trials Investigator
• Consultant
• Employee
• Founder
• Gifts or In-kind Compensation

• Grants
• Honoraria
• Patent Inventor/Holder
• Speaker Bureau
• Stock Holder
• Website/Publications

In some instances, speakers or planning committee members may not be certain whether a specific relationship warrants disclosure or is relevant. If in doubt it should be disclosed or consulted upon with the Scientific Chair of the Annual Conference.

A disclosure slide for each presentation is to be sought at the Speaker Centre. Any program accredited under Section 1, will also have the disclosure published in the Annual Conference Final Program.