Walter Eisner • Thu, December 18th, 2014
A December 8, 2014 Wall Street Journal article says the FDA is not disclosing enough financial ties between device makers and physicians serving on the FDA’s expert panels.
Panelist Industry Payments
The story cited an analysis of corporate, state and federal data sources which showed that from 2012 to 2014, one-third of 122 panel (including orthopedics) members had received compensation from device companies. Nearly 10% of the expert panel members, claims the article, received “something of value from the specific company whose product they were evaluating.”
The Journal’s tally of payments to members of panels in 2014 found that 64% received no value from device makers in the past five years. The rest did, varying from less than $15 for food and beverage to more than $500,000 in research funding. Of panelists who received something, 32% got less than $500 in value and 26% received $10,000 of value or greater.
The FDA only disclosed about 1% of those corporate connections, according to the article. Under current law the agency only discloses panelist financial interests when there is a determination the expert needs a waiver in order to serve.
Conflicts and “502” Authorization
