Study Suggests Money Influences FDA Panel Voting

[OhioChick]

WASHINGTON -- The outside experts who advise the government on drugs sometimes have financial conflicts that may sway some of their votes, a situation that would never be tolerated among jurors in legal cases, consumer advocates say.

More than a fourth of the experts relied on by the Food and Drug Administration for advice on drugs, including whether to approve new pharmaceuticals, has a financial conflict, according to a Public Citizen study that is to appear Wednesday in The Journal of the American Medical Association. Just 1 percent of panelists were excluded because of those conflicts, which can include tens of thousands of dollars in corporate grants, contracts and consulting fees.

In September 2001, Public Citizen, a private group, had threatened to sue the FDA to force greater disclosure of conflicts of interest among panel members. In January 2002, the FDA issued disclosure guidelines that panelists now must follow.

The group's study found that conflicts of interest can slightly increase the likelihood that panelists will vote to recommend the agency approve a drug. The group's analysis of voting data, culled from drug advisory committee meetings held in 2001 through 2004, showed, however, that eliminating the panelists with declared financial conflicts would not have changed the outcome of any votes.

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