Another report of conflicts of interest in FDA drug deliberations may not be surprising.
Ten of the 32 government drug advisers who last week endorsed continued marketing of the pain pills Celebrex, Bextra and Vioxx have consulted in recent years for the drugs' makers, according to disclosures in medical journals and other public records. Take away their votes and the committee would have voted to keep Vioxx off the market and to withdraw Bextra.