Wednesday, March 31, 2010

pharmaceutical company paid private investigators to gather personal information about high-ranking FDA officials

For more than two months in late 2008, private investigators working for a drug company gathered information on a high-ranking official at the Food and Drug Administration – unearthing details about her husband, two daughters, and in-laws, and re-tracing her steps on a business trip she took to Thailand.

The drug company, Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc., paid more than $100,000 to Kroll, the New York-based private investigative firm, to uncover the information about Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, who overees the agency's new-drug approvals.

At stake for Amphastar, a generic drug maker, was whether the FDA would allow it to bring to market a version of a prescription drug for blood clots, and gain access to a market worth more than $3 billion.

On behalf of the drug company Kroll also investigated a second FDA official – Moheb Nasr, director of the FDA's Office of New Drug Quality Assessment, creating a file on him that included his birth date, the price he paid for his home, and details of his education and professional background.



rest at http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/35212.html

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