European Medicines Agency is accused of weakening its conflict of interest policy

Critics have claimed that the European Medicines Agency has watered down its rules on conflicts of interest among committee members and experts, under a new policy that is due to come into effect at the end of January.

The EMA said that the revised policy, which was endorsed by its management board in March 2014, was designed to ensure a more balanced approach than its earlier stance and to ensure that it had access to the best possible expertise.1

Noël Wathion, the agency’s chief policy adviser, explained that past experience had shown that an …