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Thursday, September 22, 2005
ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

WASHINGTON - Senators asked Congress's investigative arm Wednesday to
look into the Food and Drug Administration's practice of letting
scientists serve on its advisory panels even if they have conflicts of
interest.

"We are concerned about the process that supports FDA's decisions to
waive conflicts-of-interest rules for scientists with financial ties
to the manufacturers of the products under consideration, or their
competitors," senators said in a letter sent Wednesday to the
Government Accountability Office.


It was signed by Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., the chairman of the Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and panel members Edward M.
Kennedy, D-Mass., and Richard Durbin, D-Ill.

Members of FDA advisory committees are required by law to be free of
conflicts of interest concerning products they discuss and recommend
for approval. The FDA, however, can grant a waiver if an adviser's
scientific expertise outweighs the risk of a conflict, or if the
financial interest is small.

"These practices appear to have undermined the public's faith in the
objectivity and fairness of FDA's advisory committees," the senators
said in the letter.

Senators noted allegations of conflicts among the FDA panels that
studied Cox-2 inhibitors - painkillers that have potential heart risks
- and silicone gel-filled breast implants.


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www.BreastImplantAwareness.org