Controversial cervical cancer test professor resigns

The pathology professor at the centre of a conflict of interests case involving self-test kits for cervical cancer has resigned from the government’s health advisory council, the NRC said on Tuesday.

Chris Meijer had failed to tell the Gezondheidsraad he was involved in three companies which stood to benefit from the switch to self-testing kits. The government agreed to bring in self-testing for some women the basis of the council’s advice.

The NRC revealed earlier that Meijer has shares in and is joint owner of Delphi Bioscience which makes the equipment women can use to take a sample for testing. He is also part owner of Diassay which makes tests for the virus thought to cause some forms of cervical cancer and which is also part of the self-test system.

A third company in which Meijer has financial interests is called Self-Screen and was competing for the tender to run the new programme, the NRC said.

Health minister Edith Schippers halted the tender process to run the new testing system last Friday. However, the public health institute says further analysis of test results shows there is no reason to review the the desirability of the new test.

When Meijer’s findings are left out of the equation, other research supports the introduction of the new testing system, the NRC said.