WHO response to BMJ: commercial interests did not enter pandemic decision
This article was originally published in SRA
Executive Summary
World Health Organization director general Margaret Chan has come out strongly against claims that the pharmaceutical industry may have influenced the declaration of the H1N1 pandemic, following a BMJ investigation into alleged pandemic flu “conspiracies”1,2.
You may also be interested in...
US FDA head Hamburg declares no one can inspect world on its own
The US Food and Drug Administration recently signalled its desire to work more closely with other drug regulators in assessing the quality of pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities around the world.
FDA's Hamburg declares no one can "inspect world on its own" for poor quality medicines
It seems as if the US FDA is softening its stance on assessing the quality of pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities around the world in future, with an apparent desire to work more closely with other drug regulators. However, incorporating the regulators from countries such as India, China and Japan into a global inspectorate still looks problematical.
Pharma and MSF agree on competition for cheap vaccines, but differ on pricing
Large pharmaceutical companies and Médecins sans Frontières may not often see eye-to-eye over access to medicines in poor countries. But it seems as if industry and the humanitarian body, a prominent critic, do agree that competition works in improving access to vaccines, even though they don't agree about the mechanisms of price setting.