"Food and Drug Administration advisers, in a recent vote, said the benefits of four popular Bayer AG birth-control pills outweigh the blood-clot risk. What the FDA didn't disclose is that three of the advisers have had ties to Bayer, serving as consultants, speakers or researchers."
"The three doctors were members of a special safety committee convened last month to assess the safety of the products, called Yaz, Yasmin, Beyaz and Safyral. Bayer's own studies show no excess danger, but other research including an FDA-commissioned study suggests there is one.
The committee voted 15-11 that the benefits of the pills outweighed the risks. All three of the doctors voted with the majority, though two of them later voted to encourage stronger labeling."
Thomas M. Burton reports for the Wall St. Journal January 11, 2012. [Note: This WSJ content is normally available in full only to paid subscribers -- but you can get an "article free pass" by pasting the story's headline/title into the Google search field and clicking on the resulting link.]
SEE ALSO:
"US Advisory Panellists on Drug’S Safety Had Ties To Manufacturers" (BMJ: 1/10/12)
Advertisement 
