FDA recommendations on tobacco grants prompt transparency concerns

[riky]

FDA recommendations on tobacco grants prompt transparency concerns

<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/fda-recommendations-tobacco-grants-prompt-transparency-concerns-183106568.html"><img src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/gkc2yL3kGHivhHDMamrbpg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9NzU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2014-07-11T191107Z_1_LYNXMPEA6A0TF_RTROPTP_2_BRIT-AM-TOBACCO-RESULTS.JPG" width="130" height="86" alt="Cigarettes are seen during manufacturing process in BAT Cigarette Factory in Bayreuth" align="left" title="Cigarettes are seen during manufacturing process in BAT Cigarette Factory in Bayreuth" border="0" /></a>By Toni Clarke WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Last year the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended that millions of dollars in research grants be awarded to scientists serving on its tobacco advisory committee, even as it rejected several projects deemed by a National Institutes of Health panel to have greater scientific merit, according to confidential scores reviewed by Reuters.     That has raised hackles among some researchers who were passed over. They argue that FDA officials may have favored the outside experts who counsel the agency on tobacco-related regulatory matters, and that the process lacked transparency.     Jed Rose, director of Duke University's Center for Smoking Cessation, was one of those who was rejected, despite the relatively strong score given his project by the NIH panel. He has voiced his concerns to the FDA.     &quot;The close association between the people who recommended which grants should be funded, and the advisers whose grants actually received funding, could have influenced the evaluation process,&quot; Rose said in an interview, adding that he was speaking on his own behalf and not for the center he heads.     The FDA says no favoritism was involved.</p><br clear="all"/>

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