FDA To Tighten Up Conflict Of Interest Rules For Advisory Panels

Call me crazy but shouldn't these panels consist of professionals that have absolutely zero financial interest in the products they recommend?

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced new draft guidelines on Wednesday to tighten up conflict of interest rules for members to its advisory panels. They are inviting public comments for the next 60 days before they move to finalize the guidelines.

The FDA also wants to clarify the rules on financial interests. If a potential adviser, after allowing for certain exemptions, has disqualifying financial interests in excess of 50,000 US dollars, then he or she would not qualify to participate, regardless of how valuable their expertise might be.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/healthnews.php?newsid=65786

The FDA's acting deputy commissioner for policy, Randall Lutter said, "FDA is committed to making the advisory committee process more rigorous and transparent so that the public has confidence in the integrity of the recommendations made by its advisory committees".

FDA website on recruitment of advisory committee members http://www.fda.gov/oc/advisory/