Monday, October 07, 2013

How do you measure the impact of IMMPACT?

IMMPACT is an acronym used by a group of pharmaceutical companies, academics and officials of the FDA and NIH to describe meetings to provide advice to the FDA on how to weigh the evidence from clinical trials of painkillers.  The pharmaceutical companies paid as much as $25,000 to attend the meetings; the other participants did not pay.  The two academics who organized the meetings received the money, some of which went to typical meeting expenses and some - as much as $50,000 - went to each academic, who had to cover their academic research accounts, pay for research assistants and expenses “or to cover a small percentage of faculty effort".

The meetings shaped the federal government’s policy for testing the safety and effectiveness of painkillers.  FDA officials who regulate painkillers sat on the steering committee of the group, which met in private, and co-wrote papers with employees of pharmaceutical companies.

Perhaps everything here was on the up and up, but it sure does raise questions.

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