A new charitable foundation that was set up to promote collaboration in research between the US Food and Drug Administration and the drug and medical device industries has sparked concerns that it will undermine the FDA's independence.

The Reagan-Udall Foundation, which will be headed by Mark McClellan, who at one time led the Food and Drug Administration and later the federal Medicare and Medicaid health insurance programmes, was spearheaded by the Democrat senator Ted Kennedy in a bid to reform the FDA.

The foundation's creation should shorten the time it takes to …