VINAY PRASADMedical reviewers at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decide which drugs make it to market. An analysis of 55 FDA reviewers who approved blood and cancer drugs between 2006 and 2010 found that a substantial number of these individuals went on to work for the industry they were previously regulating.
Vinay Prasad, a hematologist-oncologist at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) who coauthored the study with OHSU medical resident Jeffrey Bien, said the results are concerning. Given the possibility of career advancement by moving to industry, Prasad said, “it may make you more likely to want to be agreeable, to get along, to move things through.”
Prasad and Bien’s analysis, published in The BMJ today (September 27), found no impropriety. In an email to The Scientist, an FDA spokesperson said the agency has numerous policies in place to protect against potential conflicts of interest. “Federal laws and FDA ethics rules cover issues like outside employment, avoiding real and apparent conflicts of interest, recusals, disclosure requirements, protecting confidentiality, a ban on gifts from regulated industry, and ...
