Conflicts brewing at the FDA

The US Food and Drug Administration's chief drug approver has been hit with allegations of a conflict of interest, and the head of the agency's division on medical devices is resigning amid claims that he was making decisions that betrayed close ties to industry.

Image: FDA

linkurl:Janet Woodcock,;http://www.fda.gov/ScienceResearch/SpecialTopics/CriticalPathInitiative/FacesBehindCriticalPath/ucm077470.htmthe director of FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, has apparently landed under the microscope of the inspector general in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) at the behest of California-based drug maker Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, linkurl:according;http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125003545637224263.html?mod=googlenews_wsj to __The Wall Street Journal__. The company, which manufactures the popular over-the-counter asthma medication Primatene Mist, alleges that Woodcock is playing favorites with another drug company, Boston-area Momenta Pharmaceuticals. Amphastar's complaint involves a 2008 linkurl:paper;http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/358/23/2457 about contaminated lots of the blood thinner heparin. Woodcock coauthored that article, which was published in the __New England Journal of Medicine__, with Momenta scientists and other researchers. Momenta...