WHO's pandemic advisor strongly denies industry influence in 'false flu pandemic fiasco;' GSK says same

Responding to recent allegations that the World Health Organization had been influenced by the pharmaceutical industry, in declaring a 'false pandemic' in dealing with the H1N5 influenza situation, Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's Special Adviser to the Director General on Pandemic Influenza, strongly defended himself and the organization with a vehement 'no' at a press conference. The suggestions of drugmakers' influence by Wolfgang Wodarg, Chairman of the European Council Health Committee, have resulted in the European Parliament taking up the issue (The Pharma Letter January 5).

Fukada told journalists that, when WHO responded to the pandemic, one of the things it did as soon as possible was to reach out to a wide variety of experts and sectors around the world including industries. 'We had discussions with them on a variety of topics, and with the industry representatives, we talked both about vaccines and vaccines viruses and what could be done to expedite the production of vaccines as quickly as possible.'

He continued: 'Now the question is not really whether we had contact with the industry, but whether we had any undue influence exerted upon us by commercial interest. And the answer is no. WHO has long recognized that, in reaching out to such a broad group of experts and interest groups, there is a risk for potential conflicts of interests in the advice which is provided to the organization. So to protect the integrity of the advice which was given to WHO, to remain free from any undue influence, WHO has had in place routine safeguards against potential conflicts of interest in the advice given to WHO.'