Pubdate: Tue, 09 Feb 2016
Source: Salt Lake Tribune (UT)
Copyright: 2016 The Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.sltrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/383
Author: Matthew Perrone, The Associated Press

SENATOR SCRUTINIZES PHARMA LINKS ON PAIN PANEL

Washington (AP) - A high-ranking Senate Democrat is scrutinizing 
links between pharmaceutical companies and government advisers who 
recently criticized efforts to reduce painkiller prescribing.

Sen. Ron Wyden says he has a "number of concerns" about how panelists 
were selected and screened for an advisory panel on pain issues that 
includes government experts, outside academics and patient advocates. 
Wyden's inquiry follows a recent Associated Press story that found 
nearly a third of panelists at a December meeting of the Interagency 
Pain Research Coordinating Committee had apparent financial ties to 
painkiller manufacturers, including the maker of OxyContin.

"These financial and professional relationships raise serious 
concerns about the objectivity of the panel's members that deserve 
additional review," Wyden writes in a letter Monday to the head of 
the Department of Health and Human Services.

A spokeswoman for the federal agency said in a statement: "HHS has 
received the letter and will respond directly to the Senator."

The pain panel attracted attention late last year after several 
members bashed a federal plan to recommend doctors reduce their 
prescribing of painkillers for chronic pain. The draft guidelines by 
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are intended to curb 
deadly overdoses tied to powerful but highly-addictive opioid drugs, 
including Percocet and Vicodin. Opioid painkillers and heroin - which 
is also part of the opioid family - caused 28,650 fatal overdoses in 
2014, the highest number ever in the U.S.

Since coming under criticism from the panel, the CDC has re-opened 
its guidelines to additional public comment and review.

In his letter, Wyden states that the law creating the federal pain 
panel "makes no provision that representatives of the pharmaceutical 
industry are included on the panel."

Yet several non-federal members - through their organizations or 
directly - have received funding from painkiller makers, Wyden notes.

As previously reported by The Associated Press, two panelists work 
for the Center for Practical Bioethics, a Kansas City group which 
receives funding from multiple drugmakers, including OxyContin-maker 
Purdue Pharma, which donated $100,000 in 2013. One panelist holds a 
chair at the center created by a $1.5-million donation from Purdue 
Pharma. The other has received more than $8,660 in speaking fees, 
meals, travel accommodations and other payments from pain drugmakers.

"I am concerned that this single organization with significant ties 
to a major opioid manufacturer had two paid staff sitting as 
committee members at the same time," Wyden writes.

A third member of the panel is a director with the U.S. Pain 
Foundation, a nonprofit that receives most of its funding from 
drugmakers, including a $104,800 donation from Purdue Pharma in 2014, 
according to IRS Records cited by Wyden.

Two other panelists are connected to the American Chronic Pain 
Association, another nonprofit that receives substantial funding from 
drugmakers, including Pfizer Inc., AstraZeneca Plc, Teva 
Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. and AbbVie Inc.

The legislation creating the panel - which helps coordinate federal 
pain policies - was championed for years by drugmakers, who lobbied 
Congress to increase investments in treating and researching pain. 
Eventually, legislation creating the group was folded into the 
Affordable Care Act of 2010, President Obama's signature health care overhaul.

Wyden, who is the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance 
Committee, asks HHS officials to submit their policies for selecting 
panel members and vetting their potential conflicts of interest.

In a separate letter, also sent Monday, the Oregon lawmaker gave his 
endorsement to the CDC's painkiller guidelines, which recommend 
primary care doctors prioritize non-opioid approaches to treating chronic pain.

"The CDC's efforts mark a turning point towards a smarter approach to 
pain management," Wyden said in a statement Monday. "I am going to 
ensure these guidelines are not influenced by the companies who 
manufacture opioids."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom