Washington, DC— Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-3), Chairwoman of the FDA and Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, sent a letter today to Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), asking him to investigate a recent report in the New York Times regarding the prevalence of ghostwriting medical texts by pharmaceutical companies. This practice calls into question the integrity and quality of medical research, and could potentially poses a hazard to patients.

Congresswoman DeLauro asks Director Collins to share information on how NIH will oversee conflicts of interest regulations and how it will support the related health professions in improving their own policies towards ghostwriting and similar practices.

“It is time for us to protect the public health by ensuring the integrity of our conflict of interest policies with strong oversight and enforcement so that the American public may have faith in the advice of their health care providers and government-supported research. We must also protect our health care providers from the overwhelming misinformation and from marketing programs masked as unbiased scientific publications,” said Congresswoman DeLauro. “As the preeminent United States agency responsible for biomedical and health research, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) must lead our efforts to ensure that strong conflict of interest regulations and robust oversight are in place throughout our health care system.”

The text of the letter is below.

December 1, 2010

Dr. Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D. Director National Institutes of Health 10 Center Drive Bethesda, MD 20892

Director Collins,

I am writing to you today to express my concern about conflicts of interest and ghostwriting in the medical profession, specifically the distribution of information to medical professionals.

A recent article in the New York Times highlighted the persistent problem of industry influencing the information received by physicians. In this case, the information was inappropriately peddled as an unbiased publication with the support of an “unrestricted educational grant” that in reality involved a ghost-written book marketed to practitioners.

Pharmaceutical companies hold the keys to information that consumers and their healthcare providers receive about drugs, products, and related research. Conflicts of interest between industry and the health care professions are ubiquitous: paying individuals to write favorable articles about drugs and devices, providing rebates or kick-backs to providers that prescribe specific products, and suppressing the publication of research that is unfavorable.

In my view, we rely on research to advance science and to develop new treatments and therapies that improve our health. And while partnerships among industry, government, and academia are critical to this process, they must be transparent to ensure that financial incentives do not influence the integrity of professional decisions.

I am sure that you would agree that by ensuring the integrity of our conflict of interest policies with strong oversight and enforcement, we can protect the public health and ensure confidence in the advice of health care providers and government-supported researchers. We must also protect our health care providers from the overwhelming misinformation and from marketing programs masked as unbiased scientific publications.

As the preeminent United States agency responsible for biomedical and health research, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) must lead our efforts to ensure that strong conflict of interest regulations and robust oversight are in place throughout our health care system.

I understand that the NIH is in the process of amending conflict of interest regulations for projects supported with Public Health Service funds, and I hope the final regulations reflect the need for transparency and a robust enforcement system. To this end, I ask that you share with me how the NIH conflict of interest regulations and oversight will be strengthened, and how the NIH will support related health professions as they improve their own related policies.

I continue to strongly support your work at the NIH as you focus on both the integrity and quality of biomedical research, and look forward to working together to improve the health of the American public.

Thank you,

Rosa L. DeLauro Member of Congress