2009 Press Releases

Conflicts of interest in Irish pharmaceutical regulation
08.11.2009

Despite the semblance of a prohibition on conflicts of interest by scientific experts involved in decision-making about the licensing of pharmaceuticals in Ireland, a study just published in the journal Social Science & Medicine shows that such conflicts of interest are ‘managed’ rather than prohibited by the Irish Medicines Board (IMB).
Furthermore, in contrast to other drug regulation agencies in Europe, public access to information about conflicts of interest of senior IMB personnel and advisors is severely restricted.

The research undertaken by Orla O’Donovan, Department of Applied Social Studies, University College Cork in collaboration with Joel Lexchin from the University of Toronto found that more than one in four senior people in the IMB had potential conflicts of interest, including a chairperson of an advisory committees who had taken part in pharmaceutical industry sponsored research and been in receipt of industry honoraria and consultant fees. A former CEO was an employee of a pharmaceutical company immediately prior to his appointment to the IMB and took up a position with another pharmaceutical company directly after his departure from the agency. This is a clear illustration of the ‘revolving door’ between pharmaceutical companies and the statutory body established to regulate that same industry. In stark contrast to the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) which makes declarations of interest available on its website, the declarations of interest of IMB employees and committee members are not publicly available because they are deemed to contain personal information which is exempt from release to the public under Irish freedom of information legislation.

Scientists have frequently voiced their belief that their interactions with industry do not influence their conclusions, but there is by now strong evidence to the contrary. While recognising that searching for non-conflicted people would place additional strains on regulatory agencies and make it more difficult to recruit staff, the researchers argue that the threats of serious or irreversible damage to people’s health are too high to continue the current direction.

Orla O’Donovan conducts research on pharmaceutical policy and co-edited Power, Politics and Pharmaceuticals, published by Cork University Press in 2008.

Orla O’Donovan. Department of Applied Social Studies, UCC

RMcD



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