BMJ  2003;327:637 (20 September), doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7416.637

News

NICE is told to break its close links with drug industry

London

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) has been advised by an independent review to break its close links with the drug industry and to make its processes more transparent.

Experts from the World Health Organization who carried out the review have advised NICE that, to avoid any possible bias, pharmaceutical physicians should not be members of committees that make judgments on particular drugs or devices.

Kees de Joncheere, regional adviser for health technology and pharmaceuticals at WHO, said that although he understood that pharmaceutical physicians could offer useful input about how and why trials were conducted, a physician from one company on a committee that is appraising another company's product cannot always be independent. Instead manufacturers' views should be represented through the consultation process, he said.

Moreover, if it . . . [Full text of this article]

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