Agency Cites 'Intellectual Conflict' in Removing Safety Expert
By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 13, 2004; Page A05
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46656-2004Nov12.html<snip>
A prominent drug safety expert has been removed from a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel meeting on Vioxx and other arthritis drugs because of comments he made this week suggesting that the entire class of medications may be unsafe.
Curt D. Furberg, a member of the FDA's drug safety advisory committee, was told Thursday that an invitation to participate in the panel's key February meeting had to be rescinded because of an "intellectual conflict of interest."
Furberg, an acknowledged expert on assessing the risks of drug side effects, had commented earlier this week on an analysis he had just completed on possible cardiovascular risks from the arthritis drug Bextra. The drug is a COX-2 inhibitor such as Vioxx, which Merck & Co. took off the market in September because of a study showing that it increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Furberg said yesterday he was concerned that "higher-ups" in the FDA wanted to silence him. It's what? November 13th? They don't waste much time in moving the agenda forward, do they? The silencing of dissent goes on.
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