FDA under scrutiny for appointment of 3 scientists with ties to industry

Fiscal Times looks at concerns about conflicts of interest on FDA advisory committees. Also, ProPublica examines a bill that would make results from NIH-financed studies harder to get.

The Fiscal Times: Conflict of Interest Scandal Rocks FDA
Much has been made of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' decision last month to overrule Food and Drug Administration scientists and prohibit the over-the-counter sale of the morning after pill to minors. ... Now there is the possibility politicians on Capitol Hill are also influencing some choices being made at the FDA. It involves the agency's decision last month to appoint at least three scientists to a high-profile drug safety advisory committee without disclosing they had conflicts of interest with the company – Bayer – whose product – birth control pills – was up for review (Goozner, 1/12).

ProPublica: New Bill Would Put Taxpayer-Funded Science Behind Pay Walls
Right now, if you want to read the published results of the biomedical research that your own tax dollars paid for, all you have to do is visit the digital archive of the National Institutes of Health. ... A new bill in Congress wants to make you pay for that. ... The Research Works Act would prohibit the NIH from requiring scientists to submit their articles to the online database (Groeger, 1/12).