Dawson, J A
Kaiser, K A
Affuso, O
Cutter, G R
Allison, D B
Article History
Received: 11 December 2014
Revised: 14 September 2015
Accepted: 20 September 2015
First Online: 9 October 2015
Competing interests
: JAD and KAK have no conflicts of interest to declare. OA has received consulting fees and grants from organizations interested in obesity interventions. GRC has had the following consulting or DSMB commitments within the past 12 months: Apotek, Biogen-Idec, Cleveland Clinic, Glaxo Smith Klein Pharmaceuticals, Gilead Pharmaceuticals, Modigenetech/Prolor, Merck/Ono Pharmaceuticals, Merck, Neuren, PCT Bio, Revalesio, Sanofi-Aventis, Teva, Vivus, NHLBI (Protocol Review Committee), NINDS, NMSS and NICHD (OPRU oversight committee). In addition, GRC has consulted, recieved speaking fees or acted as part of an advisory boards for the following: Alexion, Allozyne, Bayer, Celgene, Coronado Biosciences, Consortium of MS Centers (grant), Diogenix, Klein-Buendel Incorporated, Medimmune, Novartis, Nuron Biotech, Receptos, Spiniflex Pharmaceuticals and Teva pharmaceuticals. GRC is employed by the University of Alabama at Birmingham and is President of Pythagoras, Inc., a private consulting company located in Birmingham AL. DBA has received consulting fees and his university has received gifts, grants and donations from multiple non-profit and for-profit organizations with interests in obesity trials including food and pharmaceutical companies.