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Digest
FDA addresses conflict of interest issues
By TIMES WIRES
Published March 22, 2007
WASHINGTON Outside experts with more than $50,000 in ties to drug and medical device companies regulated by the Food and Drug Administration would be barred from advising the agency under draft guidelines issued Wednesday. The conflict-of-interest guidelines would allow scientific experts who accept less than $50,000 in corporate grants, contracts and consulting fees - or hold less than that amount in company stock - to still serve on the FDA's advisory committees. But that could happen only if the need for their services outweighed the potential conflict, and only if they were nonvoting members, according to the draft. A recent study had found that more than one-fourth of the experts relied on by the FDA for advice on drugs, including whether to approve new pharmaceuticals, reported a financial conflict. House approves caller ID fraud bill The House voted 413-1 Wednesday to make phone "spoofing," the use of fake caller ID information to defraud people, a felony subject to up to five years in prison. The practice involves using a false caller ID to hide the true identity of the caller in order to commit fraud. Exemptions are made for the activities of law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Also Immigration: Bipartisan legislation to be unveiled today in the House of Representatives would offer temporary legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants but would require them to leave the country before they could be eligible for permanent residency and U.S. citizenship. Veterans Affairs: The House on Wednesday directed the Veterans Affairs Department to develop a program dealing with suicide among veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other depression issues. The House also unanimously passed bills to increase benefits for veterans who lose sight in one eye due to a service-connected event, and to enact an annual cost-of-living increase for benefits of veterans with service-related disabilities.
[Last modified March 22, 2007, 02:19:08]
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