Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Study Raises Concerns Over Revolving Door Between FDA, Pharma Companies It Regulates
Critics of the revolving door between government and industry cite the hundreds of lawmakers-turned-lobbyists as case studies in the art of cashing in on one鈥檚 years of public service. But less is known about the revolving door between the Food and Drug Administration and the biopharmaceutical industry. In a study published Tuesday in the journal BMJ, researchers who studied the careers of FDA medical reviewers found that more than half of the hematology-oncology assessors who reviewed drugs between 2001 and 2010 went on to work for the biopharmaceutical industry. (Kaplan, 9/27)
More than a quarter of the Food and Drug Administration employees who approved cancer and hematology drugs from 2001 through 2010 left聽the agency and now work or consult for pharmaceutical companies, according to research published by a prominent medical journal Tuesday. Dr. Vinay Prasad, a hematologist-oncologist and assistant professor at Oregon Health and Science University, sought to understand the so-called 鈥渞evolving door鈥 between the FDA and the pharmaceutical industry, which he said is often discussed but hadn鈥檛 been quantified. (Lupkin, 9/27)