FDA nominee thinks being a Pharma consultant is a "very good thing"
Imagine a doctor who "served as a director, officer, partner, employee, advisor, consultant or trustee for Genentech" and reports 23 financial links to drug companies including stock ownership being FDA commissioner? A doctor who defends Merck's Vioxx behavior which cost thousands of lives and said "many of us consult with the pharmaceutical industry, which I think is a very good thing. They need ideas and then the decision about what they do is really up to the person who is funding the study," on PBS.
The Obama administration has nominated Duke University researcher Robert Califf to be FDA commissioner ending all pretenses of a firewall between the drug industry and the government agency that is supposed to regulate it. In 2009 when Califf's name was floated for FDA commissioner along with three others, Reuters reported that medical experts asked how someone who helps drug companies market their products could possibly be considered as the nation's chief watchdog over unsafe medications. We now have our answer.
When Margaret Hamburg was named FDA commissioner in 2009, instead of Califf, many hoped her background as deputy health commissioner for New York City could purge industry influences, especially when she appointed Joshua Sharfstein deputy commissioner who also had a public health background. But hopes were dashed when Sharfstein left within two years and Hamburg soon moved to loosen conflict of interest rules governing who can sit on advisory committees that recommend drug approvals. In fact, Hamburg appointed Califf FDA Deputy Commissioner earlier this year, before stepping down
And there's more
Califf is not the only government official with blatant industry ties. Four years ago, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported that longtime director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Thomas Insel assured the University of Miami medical school dean if they hired his friend, government money--our money--would not be denied to his school. Why would it be denied? The friend, Charles Nemerof, was found to have so much unreported Pharma income after a congressional investigation, a $9.3 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant he managed was suspended. At the time of the cronyism and promise of flowing government funds, Insel was leading NIH efforts to stamp out conflicts of interest reported the Chronicle.
Animal lovers know Insel as the former director of the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center whose experiments recall those of Henry Harlow who created "Iron Maiden" mothers and "pit of despairs" for baby primates. In one Insel experiment, newborn monkeys were "removed from their mothers within 48 h of birth," and subjected to "stressors" without being "able to use a social companion to buffer their response to a stressor." What did researchers learn? "As expected from previous studies, monkeys removed from their mother shortly after birth and raised in standard nursery conditions develop a syndrome characterized by decreased affiliation, increased aggression, and increased self-directed, repetitive behavior," they write. Thanks for that.
At first, the news this week that Insel is leaving NIMH for Google looks innocuous. But Insel won't be enhancing mobile aps or tracking Google ads. Google is rapidly becoming part of Big Pharma and Insel is joining Google Life Sciences, a semi-secret research organization studying "brain diseases" which last year launched a potential $1.5 billion research partnership with drug maker AbbVie.
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