US Congress to investigate FDA COI

The US House of Representatives' Energy and Commerce Committee has launched an investigation into an alleged conflict of interest case at the Food and Drug Administration. At stake is whether Margaret Burnette, an official at the agency, acted improperly by instructing her deputy to contact Platinum Solutions, a Virginia-based computer software company, to develop a data system to process new drug applications (Marketletter January 1 & 8).

Mrs Burnette's husband, Mark Boster, was subsequently hired by Platinum after the firm was awarded a no-bid contract worth $4.0 million. The FDA has subsequently renewed the contract, and an internal investigation concluded that no discliplinary action was required.

Rep John Dingell (Democrat, Michigan), the energy and Commerce Committee Chairman, wrote a joint letter to the FDA with three other colleagues from both sides of the political divide, demanding that "no records relating to contracts in which Ms Burnette was directly or indirectly involved are destroyed." Rep Dingell told the Los Angeles Times newspaper (which first covered the story) that "self-examination has never been a strong point for the FDA, and the public health has siffered from the agency's reluctance to examine the flawed behavior of its employees."