Furberg booted from FDA panel

The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that the Food and Drug Administration removed Dr. Curt Furberg of Wake Forest University from the panel that will evaluate the safety of Cox-2 painkillers next February. Sandra Kweder, the acting director of the agency's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, claimed he was biased because he was quoted in a New York Times article suggesting that all Cox-2s may cause heart problems. Merck's Cox-2 Vioxx was pulled from the market late last month, prompting next February's meeting.

The significance of this move can't be overstated. Dr. Furberg is the one of the nation's most independent, judicious voices in drug analysis. He was the intellectual godfather of the ALLHAT trial, which showed that generic diuretics were just as good as premium medicines for combating high blood pressure. That he would be booted from a panel for a single comment represents the height of hypocrisy by the FDA. The agency routinely grants conflict-of-interest waivers to industry-funded researchers so they can sit on panels evaluating medicines.

More on this issue later . . .