November 15, 2005

More Conflict of Interest

Wall Street Journal

Former FDA Head Held Shares
In Regulated Firms as Late as '04

By SARAH LUECK and ANNA WILDE MATHEWS
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
October 26, 2005; Page A2

WASHINGTON – As late as 2004, former Food and Drug Administration head
Lester Crawford or his wife owned stock in companies that make or
distribute products regulated by the agency, a factor that may have led
to his abrupt departure last month.

For most of 2004, Dr. Crawford was the FDA's acting commissioner, and
prior to that he had been a deputy commissioner at the agency.
Financial disclosure forms released under the Freedom of Information
Act show that during at least part of that time, he or his wife held
stock in companies that have some of their business regulated by FDA,
including Kimberly-Clark Corp. and Teleflex Inc., which make medical
devices, food distributor Sysco Corp. and Embrex Inc., an agricultural
biotechnology company on whose board Dr. Crawford once sat

No comments: