Drug firm execs to help lead FDA foundation*
   
   Some say public-private partnership lets businesses cozy up to regulators 
  The Associated Press
  updated 1:43 p.m. ET, Tues., Nov. 20, 2007

  WASHINGTON - Executives from drug makers Johnson and Johnson and Genzyme
  were among those picked to lead a new food and drug research foundation
  that brings private companies into an unusually close relationship with
  regulators.

  The Food and Drug Administration last week announced the board members
  of the Reagan-Udall Foundation, a partnership between the public and
  private sectors aimed improve oversight of products regulated by the
  agency, while accelerating the development of drugs and other medical
  products.

  Along with J&J and Genzyme, other industry representatives on the board
  include executives from General Electric Co., which makes medical
  devices, and the Grocery Manufacturers Association, whose members
  include Hormel Foods Corp. and Kellogg Co. (Msnbc.com is a joint venture
  between Microsoft and NBC Universal, which is owned by GE.)

  The remaining seats on the 14-member board include representatives from
  academia, the health professions and nonprofit advocacy groups. No
  government officials are permitted to serve as voting members of the
  board of Reagan-Udall, which was created as part of a major FDA overhaul
  signed into law in September.

  The law creating the center required that at least four board members
  come from industries regulated by FDA.

  Former FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan will serve as chairman of the
  board. McClellan left the agency in 2004 to run the Centers for Medicare
  and Medicaid Services. Since leaving that position last year, he has
  conducted research at the Brookings Institution and the American
  Enterprise Institute, both Washington think tanks.

  Although Reagan-Udall is affiliated with FDA, the center will primarily
  be funded by donations from private companies. The center's board is
  tasked with awarding those funds to researchers in government, academia
  and industry.

  Consumer advocates and some lawmakers have criticized the loose
  partnership, arguing that allowing companies to fund
  government-sanctioned research could increase FDA's vulnerability to
  industry clout.

  Earlier this month, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D.-Conn., sent a letter to FDA's
  Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach stating "the potential for pressure
  on FDA staff from Reagan-Udall Foundation-endorsed research is
  enormous." Specifically, DeLauro asked how FDA would be able to
  objectively review products that incorporate its own research.

  The congresswoman's staffers said Friday they have not yet received a
  response to the letter.

  Under the law creating Reagan-Udall, the board's first task will be to
  draft guidelines for how the foundation will operate, including the
  collection and distribution of funding. A spokeswoman for FDA said the
  board's first meeting has not yet been scheduled.

  Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
  may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21900401/

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