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Conflicts of interest in the drug community have come under increasing scrutiny, with lawmakers, activists and medical journals questioning financial relationships between manufacturers and the individuals who study, review and approve their products. Some have gone as far as saying the FDA's policies favor the drug industry at the expense of patient safety. The agency's advisory committees are particularly under fire, causing some in Congress to call for a total ban on conflict-of-interest waivers. Institutional
review boards also met with controversy over a report that some members approved protocols although they were in possible conflict-of-interest situations. Medical journals have clamped down as well, requiring detailed disclosures by authors and going to great lengths to admit when contributors do not properly reveal ties to the drug industry. Government officials who run afoul of their agencies' conflict-of-interest rules meet with more serious consequences. Federal prosecutors have charged a top NIH scientist with
accepting $285,000 in undisclosed consulting fees and travel expenses from a major drug company. Former FDA commissioner Lester Crawford, who left the agency two months after being confirmed, pled guilty to failing to disclose financial conflicts and making false statements. This issue of The Food & Drug Letter looks at the ongoing debate over conflict-of-interest policies.