conflict of interest
ddobbs | February 10, 2009Marcia Angell makes it plain:
The fact that drug companies pay prescribers to be "educated" underscores the true nature of the transaction. Students generally pay teachers, not the reverse. The real intent is to influence prescribing habits, through selection of the information provided and through the warm feelings induced by bribery. Prescribers join in the pretence that drug companies provide education because it is lucrative to do so. Even free samples are meant to hook doctors and patients on the newest, most expensive drugs, when older drugs -- or no drug at all -- might be better for…
sb admin | January 16, 2009
As some sharp-eyed reader may have already spotted, the SciencePunk blog has relocated to the Seed Media Group's ScienceBlogs. Let's take a moment to absorb these new surroundings.
OK, done? Those of you who have already run back to check sciencepunk.com will find it too has changed substantially. Drama abounds!
From today, the whole SciencePunk caboodle is getting cranked up a notch. Wave goodbye to the version 5 we all knew and loved, and say hello to version 6. (Ah, you always wondered what that stray /v5 signified, didn't you? Why not check out v4? Web 1.0-tastic!) The site has…
sb admin | October 22, 2008The FDA, already under fire in the wake of widespread food- and drug-contamination problems, is now facing criticism for its failure to adequately guard against conflicts of interest in its assessment of the safety of bisphenol A.
FDAâs draft assessment of the chemicalâs safety placed more weight on industry science â Sarah Vogel critiques the agencyâs approach here â and upheld the current safety standard for human exposure to the BPA in food. Now a bisphenol A subcommittee is about to advise the agency on whether to accept or amend that draft assessment, and it turns out that its chair has…
sb admin | May 14, 2008by David Egilman, MD, MPH
I just finished watching the Waxman hearings on FDA preemption and must comment on Christopher Shays' (R-CT) comments. Christopher Shays is the last remaining Republican congressman from New England. Hopefully the November elections will result in the extinction of this last remaining
remnant of the age of the dinosaurs.
He repeatedly stated that he "had no dog in this hunt" concerning the impact of preemption and torts suits on drug safety. This is a peculiar position for a Congressperson who must decide whether or not the FDA's actions are appropriate. It's…
sb admin | January 27, 2008UPDATED BELOW
Annys Shin of the Washington Post has reported that Dr. Gail Charnley, a well-known corporate product defense expert, is the White Houseâs leading candidate for the chairmanship of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Weâve written extensively here about this beleaguered agency. Finally, after the nation watched helplessly at the recall of millions of lead-contaminated toys, President Bush has evidently decided to replace current Chairman Nancy Nord with someone more competent to safeguard the interests of manufacturers of dangerous products.
The Post article lists a few…
sb admin | January 9, 2008Several months ago, I tried to get a simple question answered by NIOSH about part of its process for awarding mine safety research grants. The technical staff with whom I spoke probably knew the answer to my question, but they weren't sure whether the information could be disclosed or not. Fair enough. They suggested that I file a FOIA request which I promptly did.  More than 4 months later, I'm still waiting for an answer.Â
Granted, this is nowhere near the worst FOIA performance (see annual Rosemary Award), but my question to NIOSH was straightforward, and I guarantee they have at…
sb admin | December 18, 2007The journal Epidemiology has just published new evidence that drinking hexavalent chromium -- also called chromium 6 -- increases risk of stomach cancer. The study is important for public health purposes, since many drinking water sources are chromium contaminated (including the water in the community in the movie Erin Brockovich).
This new study is also the latest piece of a very ugly scandal that illustrates how polluters manufacture doubt to impede regulation. And this scandal is but one of several in which chromium polluters have manipulated epidemiologic studies to sow uncertainty -…
sb admin | November 27, 2007The chairman of the University of Kentucky's (UK) mining engineering department wrote in a recent op-ed of his strong oppposition to a new mine safety bill (HR 2768) which is making its way through Congress. The legislation will address long-standing health and safety hazards faced by miners such as disease-causing coal dust and silica, belt-air ventilation, flammable conveyor belts, among other things. In "New Mining Bill Premature," printed in the Lexington Herald-Leader, Professor Rick Honaker says it is "incomprehensible" that Congress is attempting to place new safety…
sb admin | November 25, 2007Do you still believe the fairy tale that payments by a product's manufacturer to a scientist (even the most well-meaning, independent-thinking scientist) do not inevitably influence that scientist's interpretation of the technical data on productâs risks and benefits? If so, this will change your mind.
sb admin | November 21, 2007by Susan F. Wood, PhDÂ
FDA recently announced two draft guidances regarding advisory committees, one on public disclosure of financial conflicts of interests and the other on voting procedures.Â
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The one on disclosure of financial conflicts of interest has gotten a fair amount of attention as it begins to implement the FDA Amendments Act of 2007 (FDAAA) requirements on disclosure. This draft guidance which calls for public disclosure 15 days in advance of any meeting of financial conflicts of interest for which a waiver is sought and granted for participation in the Advisory Committee…
sb admin | November 8, 2007Earlier this week, the Washington Postâs Elizabeth Williamson reported on industry-financed trips that Consumer Product Safety Commission chairs had taken. Today, she writes about other CPSC staff members (from both the Clinton and Bush administrations) who took such trips, and about proposed legislation spurred by the CPSC travel revelations. Meanwhile, eight new toy recalls have been issued.
Clinton appointee Ann Brown chaired the CPSC from 1994 to 2001 did not accept travel paid by regulated industries, Williamson reports; she did, however, send some of her staff members on industry-…
sb admin | November 6, 2007On Friday, the Washington Post reported that Consumer Product Safety Commission acting chair Nancy Nord and her predecessor, Hal Stratton, accepted dozens of trips paid for by companies and industries they oversee. (Nord, you might remember, is in the spotlight for objecting to legislation that would give her agency more money and authority.) Nord defended her actions by saying that they all went through the agencyâs usual approval process, though she also called for an outside review of CPSC travel policies after news of her trips sparked anger in Congress.
In todayâs Washington Post,…
sb admin | September 14, 2007Â By Susan F. Wood, PhD
 Two things appear to be major bones of contention in determining the final version of what is now named the "FDA Revitalization Act of 2007" (FDARA). And they both related to public transparency and public accountability.Â
The first is the limitation of financial conflicts of interest by FDA Advisory Committee members. The House has adopted language that limits the ability of FDA to grant waivers to members of Advisory Committees (AC) who have financial conflicts to only 1 waiver per meeting of a committee. This was identical to an amendment offered on the…
sb admin | September 6, 2007Â By Susan F. Wood, PhDÂ
In an article in the New England Journal of Medicine today, Sheila Weiss Smith points out that the FDA has not been responsive to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report on Drug Safety. That study and its recommendations took on the question of how to improve our nation's drug safety system, specifically through regulation by FDA. In her Perspective article, Dr. Smith writes:
In general, the IOM implored the agency to "embrace a culture of safety" by increasing the priority accorded to the safety of patients. Such an emphasis could have ramifications for medical…
sb admin | August 31, 2007by Susan F. Wood, PhDÂ
Todayâs Washington Post writes about one more instance where womenâs health and childrenâs health were a lower priority than the interests of a powerful group. In this case, it was breastfeeding vs. the formula industry.
Marc Kaufman and Christopher Lee write:
In an attempt to raise the nation's historically low rate of breast-feeding, federal health officials commissioned an attention-grabbing advertising campaign a few years ago to convince mothers that their babies faced real health risks if they did not breast-feed. It featured striking photos of insulin…
sb admin | August 23, 2007By Liz BorkowskiÂ
Revereâs been keeping us up to date on the latest news about the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences â specifically, the stepping aside of Director Dr. David Schwartz for an NIH investigation, and the letter sent to NIEHS employees with the apparent goal of discouraging whistle-blowing. It seems like a good time to review some NIEHS happenings that had already attracted congressional scrutiny.
Conflicted Contractors
As regular readers may recall, NIEHS lacks appropriate policies to identify and address potential conflicts of interest in contractors it hires…
sb admin | August 2, 2007Our regular readers may remember that back in March, environmental advocates raised concerns about the National Toxicology Program contractor preparing a draft report on bisphenol A, because the contractor had ties to companies that manufacture this particular chemical. (Read past posts on the issue.) After investigating the allegations, the NTP fired the contractor, Virginia-based Sciences International.
Now, Susanne Rust of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that the NTP has conducted an audit and found no imporpriety in the preparation of the report, which will provide background…
sb admin | August 1, 2007The Boston Globe, home town paper of Senator Ted Kennedy, Chair of the Senate Health, Environment, Labor and Pensions Committee, ran two important commentaries on the FDA this week.
 First was an editorial  yesterday strongly urging Congress to pass a strong FDA reform bill, including restricting financial conflicts of interests for advisory committee members.
Today the Globe ran an oped coauthored by David Michaels and me, again calling for leaders in Congress to ensure that the final bill (it is now in "conference" between the House version and the Senate version) come out as strong …
sb admin | July 31, 2007In a post last week entitled Mining Professors Oppose Mine Safety Bill, I invited the signatories of a letter opposing new mine safety legislation to disclose their financial ties to the mining industry (if any) or other related conflicts of interest.  A couple of days later, one of the letter's signers, Larry Grayson, PhD of Penn State University, responded thoughtfully and thoroughly (here and here) to my post.  I respectfully invite the other signatories to follow Dr. Grayson's lead and provide their own disclosures.
Professor Grayson, who holds the George H., Jr. and Anne…
sb admin | July 9, 2007Remember back in May, when public health advocates sounded the alarm about the fact that EPAâs short list of nominees for its Science Advisory Board asbestos panel included scientists associated with product defense firms? As David Michaels explained, these firms are hired by corporations and trade associations to minimize government regulation, and scientists associated with them have a fundamental conflict of interest that should preclude their participation in EPAâs science advisory panels.
Now a similar problem is arising with another SAB panel: the particulate matter review panel of…