FairWarning - FDA to Increase Transparency on Conflicts of Interest

 

 April 21, 2010

 

Responding to years of complaints about conflicts of interest on its advisory committees, the Food and Drug Administration announced plans to increase transparency about committee board members. Advisory committees play a key role in federal regulation of drugs and medical devices. Under draft guidance issued today, the FDA plans to publish on its website the name of any company or institution connected to a committee member that might pose a conflict of interest. Under previous policy, a potential conflict was identified only broadly “as a sponsor, competitor, or other affected firm.”

 

In a letter to staff about the changes, FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg wrote:

 

In my view, it is clearly better for the agency in fulfilling its public health mission when advisors have no conflicts of interest. FDA staff should search far and wide for experts who have the requisite knowledge without conflicts of interest.

 

At the same time, however, I recognize the fact that many of the top authorities in specific areas may have conflicts of interest.

 

Dr. Michael Siegel, a public health professor at Boston University who has testified against tobacco companies, criticized the FDA recently for appointing individuals with tobacco and drug interests to its Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee. From his blog:

 

The FDA Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Panel is a virtual smorgasbord of tobacco and pharmaceutical financial interests. This is hardly what I imagine President Obama had in mind when in his inaugural address he called for “science to be restored to its rightful place.”