[Ip-health] Conflicts Clot HHS Cord Blood Stem Cell Committee

[Joana Ramos]

Integrity in Science Watch for Week of April 28, 2008
http://www.cspinet.org/integrity/watch/index.html

( links to sources & citations in website original)

*Conflicts Clot HHS Cord Blood Stem Cell Committee*

At least 11 of the 25 voting-members of Health and Human Services=92
Advisory Council of Blood Stem Cell Transplantation
<http://bloodcell.transplant.hrsa.gov/ABOUT/Advisory_Council/index.html>
have financial ties to cord blood-banking and transplantation industry
despite a committee charter stating that such conflicts should be
limited. The council
<http://bloodcell.transplant.hrsa.gov/ABOUT/Advisory_Council/Charter/index.=
html>,
which meets for the second time today and tomorrow, was formed earlier
this year to provide =93expert, unbiased analysis and recommendations=94 on
blood stem cell transplantation policy, regulation, and research. The
committee=92s charter prohibits Council members with financial ties to
donor centers, recruitment organizations, transplant centers, or cord
blood banks =93from participating in any decision that materially affects
the center, recruitment organization, transplant center, or cord blood
bank.=94 It also calls on HHS officials to =93limit the number of members o=
f
the Advisory Council with any such affiliation.=94 A Center for Science in
the Public Interest survey of committee membership found that nearly
half of the committee=92s voting members have financial ties to the stem
cell and blood bank industry.

Members with significant financial conflicts of interest include Charles
Sims, the medical director and co-founder of the sperm bank California
Cryobank, who is also the chair
<http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?acct=3D104&story=3D/www/story=
/01-23-2008/0004741365&edate>
of the Association of Family Cord Blood Banks, an industry trade group.
Fredrick Appelbaum, head of medical oncology at the University of
Washington, has relationships
<http://www.hematology.org/meetings/2007/attendee/fss.cfm> with six
pharmaceutical companies including Wyeth, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck,
and Genzyme. Richard Champlin, chairman of the Stem Cell Transplantation
and Cellular Therapy at the University of Texas in Houston, serves on
the medical advisory board
<http://www.stemcytefamily.com/experience/medical_advisory_board.cfm> of
Stemcyte, a California company that runs public and private banking
programs. Champlin also serves
<http://www.hematology.org/meetings/2007/attendee/fss.cfm> as a
consultant to Genzyme, AnorMed, and Amgen. The council=92s chair, Karl
Blume, an emeritus professor of Medicine at Stanford University, also
serves with Champlin on the Stemcyte advisory board
<http://www.stemcytefamily.com/experience/medical_advisory_board.cfm>.
Currently, none of these financial ties or the members' conflict of
interest waivers are available on the council=92s website
<http://bloodcell.transplant.hrsa.gov/ABOUT/Advisory_Council/index.html>,
although the HHS official in charge of the committee, Remy Aronoff, said
he was looking into the issue. According to Aronoff, the initial
selection process of the council did not take into account the conflicts
of interests of the over 100 applicants, but he added that perhaps for
future council appointees "it is a reasonable thing to do." A full list
of committee members' conflicts of interest can be found here
<http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/voting_members_of_the_advisory_council_on_blood=
_stem_cell_transplantation.doc>.


The agenda <https://www.team-psa.com/dot/2008/acbsct/agenda.asp> for the
council=92s meetings this week includes cord blood bank accreditation
programs, insurance reimbursement for stem cell transplants, cord blood
access for research, and recruitment practices. Joana Ramos of the
Cancer Resources and Advocacy <http://ramoslink.info/index.html>, a
private consultant who focuses on improving access to quality cancer and
chronic disease treatment for families, said the =93stacked=94 committee
makes, =93it extremely difficult for the public to have an impact or to
shape policy despite having concerns.=94


---------------
Joana Ramos, MSW
Cancer Resources & Advocacy
Seattle WA USA
+1-206-229-2420
http://ramoslink.info/
www.bmtbasics.org