Footnotes

• Competing interests: RVV has received consulting honoraria and speaker’s fees from Wyeth. EC has served on advisory boards and speaker bureaus for Abbott, Schering Plough, Wyeth, UCB Celltech and Roche. WG has served on an advisory board and Speaker Bureaus for Abbott, Schering Plough, Wyeth, UCB Celltech and Roche. SS has served in advisory boards for Abbott, Schering-Plough, Genentech and Wyeth. BC has served as a speaker and/or consultant and/or investigator for Abbott, BMS, GSK, MSD, Roche, Schering, UCB and Wyeth. PE has provided expert advice and undertaken clinical trials for Abbott, BMS, GSK, MSD, Roche, Schering, UCB and Wyeth.

• Funding: Wyeth provided an unrestricted grant for research and writing of this article.