Human papillomavirus-based screening at extended intervals missed fewer cervical precancers than cytology in the HPV For Cervical Cancer (HPV FOCAL) trial.

"CONFLICT OF INTEREST Mel Krajden was the principal investigator, and Gina Ogilvie, Dirk van Niekerk, Eduardo L. Franco and Darrel Cook were coinvestigators on investigator‐led, industry‐funded (Hologic Inc and Roche) adjunct studies to the HPV FOCAL trial, designed to compare the performance of different HPV assays. Funding for the adjunct studies was not applied to the operation of the HPV FOCAL trial results presented here. Funding for industry‐funded studies was issued to the investigator institutions to conduct these adjunct studies and investigators did not personally benefit financially. Darrel Cook received speaker honoraria and travel expenses from Hologic Inc. Mel Krajden has received grants/contracts paid to his institution from Roche, Hologic Inc. and Siemens unrelated to the present work. Eduardo L. Franco does not have conflicts of interest but disclose the following: he received grants from CIRH, CCSRI, CRS and NIH to fund studies other than the one reported in this article. The following are disclosures about activities unrelated to the present article: personal fees from Merck; a patent related to the discovery “DNA methylation markers for early detection of cervical cancer”, registered at the Office of Innovation and Partnerships, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The remaining authors have no disclosures."

"Funding information Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, Grant/Award Number: MCT82072; National Institutes of Health, Grant/Award Number: R01 CA221918"