The Center for Science in the Public Interest reports that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is again allowing scientists with direct financial ties to a drug manufacturer to serve on an advisory committee charged with evaluating that company's product.
CSPI says that a committee reviewing the safety and efficacy of Pfizer's proposed insulin inhaler has at least three members with direct ties to Pfizer, the product's manufacturer, or its technological partner, Nektar Therapeutics. One other member-the acting chairman-holds stock in Pfizer.
"The public's faith in the integrity of the process is undermined when one-third of an advisory committee's membership has significant financial ties to the company seeking the product's approval," said Merrill Goozner, director of the Integrity in Science project at CSPI. "It is ludicrous that the FDA could not find highly qualified experts in these fields who did not have ties to the manufacturer."
Posted by schwitz at September 9, 2005 09:10 AM | TrackBack