Statement of Disclosures

At the time of abstract submission, we now require all abstract presenters to provide a statement, on behalf of all co-authors, regarding any disclosures for their work.  This enables congress attendees to determine whether or not there may have been bias or the perception of bias.  This can occur when any of the authors (or someone related to the authors e.g. family member, spouse, friend) has a relationship with any entity that has an interest (direct or indirect) related to the submission. Examples include:

• Any form of support (financial or otherwise) for the study described in the abstract
• Any form of support for other work that that the authors are involved in.
• Financial relationships (which may be unrelated to the subject matter of the abstract) whereby the individual or a relative benefits by receiving a salary, royalties, consulting fees, speaker honoraria, ownership interests (e.g. stock or stock options), or other benefits.
• Indirect benefits i.e. where the author, or author's institution, benefits from the results of the study. An example would be where the author (or their institution) runs a laboratory service, which performs an assay that is discussed in the abstract.
• Failure to declare a conflict of interest can lead to rejection of the abstract, or prohibiting authors from submitting abstracts to future congresses.

Please note that it is best to practise 'full disclosure' and err on the side of caution; if in doubt, please include the item, and the Congress Committee will then decide whether or not it needs to be reported.  Please include in the text box provided an explanation that includes the name(s) of the author(s) involved, name of the commercial entity, and the nature of the relationship.

Every speaker must also display their disclosures on the second slide of their presentation (i.e. immediately following the title slide).  Please see the link for an example disclosure slide.  Speakers who do not comply with this will be prohibited from presenting at future congresses.