Indirect involvement through a non-profit means at a minimum they’re at risk of the appearance of impropriety and obviously understandable suspicions.
FDA shouldn’t have Purdue and the Sacklers involved in anything, much less Opioid Abuse Surveillance, considering their track record.
Groups Blast FDA’s Opioid Abuse Surveillance Proposal — RADARS system’s ties to Purdue Pharma undermine the reliability of its data, they say by Kristina Fiore, Director of Enterprise & Investigative Reporting, MedPage Today January 3, 2024 The groups charged that the RADARS system was created by Purdue Pharma and still has close ties to that company and to other pharmaceutical manufacturers, raising concerns about FDA’s use of its data. “Congressional investigations, books, documentary films, and television mini-series have detailed the role played by Purdue, the Sacklers, and the opioid industry in causing the opioid crisis,” the PROP letter stated. “Many of these accounts have featured the opioid industry’s influence on the FDA.” “The time for FDA to learn from its past mistakes is long overdue,” the letter continued. “FDA should enforce strict firewalls to prevent the opioid industry from having undue influence on its decision-making.” PROP’s letter noted that RADARS was created in 2001 by Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family in response to DEA and FDA concerns about OxyContin. Though Purdue transferred ownership of RADARS to the Denver Health & Hospital Authority in 2005, turning it into a non-profit, PROP argued that this just “gave the appearance that RADARS was now independent.”