FDA corruption at it's best.....

[NathanS]

THE FOOD and Drug Administration has done far too little to avoid conflicts of interest among those who serve on its scientific panels and advisory boards. The latest example came last Monday, when the agency appointed to a tobacco advisory committee two scientists who have financial ties to companies that sell smoking cessation products.

One of the scientists, Jack Henningfield, makes most of his income from a consulting company that has GlaxoSmithKline, which makes Nicorette gum, as a client, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The other, Neil L. Benowitz, formerly worked as a consultant for GlaxoSmithKline and still consults for Pfizer, which makes the quit-smoking drug Chantix.

Read the rest here....
FDA lax on conflicts of interest - The Boston Globe

 

[banjo]

Thanks for the post & the link. Much appreciated.

 

[Vocalek]

THE FOOD and Drug Administration has done far too little to avoid conflicts of interest among those who serve on its scientific panels and advisory boards. The latest example came last Monday, when the agency appointed to a tobacco advisory committee two scientists who have financial ties to companies that sell smoking cessation products.

One of the scientists, Jack Henningfield, makes most of his income from a consulting company that has GlaxoSmithKline, which makes Nicorette gum, as a client, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The other, Neil L. Benowitz, formerly worked as a consultant for GlaxoSmithKline and still consults for Pfizer, which makes the quit-smoking drug Chantix.

Read the rest here....
FDA lax on conflicts of interest - The Boston Globe

The interesting thing is that Henningfield is totally anti-ecigarette, but I suspect that Benowitz might be more open to harm reduction.

I've been reading their publications since around 1990. I met Jack Henningfield last spring at SRNT and he was (how can I say this politely) umm... impolite, walking away from us while we were trying to discuss some of the issues with him.

On the other hand, Neal Benowitz was one of the presenters at the FDA workshop on long term use of NRTs. He was very polite and even signed my copy of Nicotine Safety and Toxicity. Just because he was polite doesn't mean he is a good guy, but my gut says that he is honest. At least he is not a nicotine prohibitionist.