Three Minnesota state drug panel advisers declare potential conflicts of interest

As seen in the Pioneer Press

A Minnesota panel that chooses drugs for low-income Medicaid patients started operating under a new, tougher conflict of interest policy on Tuesday.

Members of the Medicaid Drug Formulary Committee now must declare potential conflicts of interest in writing, after an Associated Press review of drug company disclosure records found financial relationships between two members and the drug industry.

Three committee members - including psychiatrist John Simon, who got more than $350,000 from drug companies while serving on the panel - disclosed potential conflicts. The new policy requires them to reveal employment, compensation, honoraria, paid testimony, free travel and other perks in the past five years.

Pharmacist Margaret Artz disclosed that her daughter works as a sales representative for Novartis in Wisconsin and abstained from voting on three drugs made by the Swiss pharmaceutical company.

"While I do not consider her job as an influence on my judgments either on the DFC or in my own areas of employment, there may be the appearance of a conflict of interest," Artz wrote in her disclosure statement. "Therefore, I will abstain from voting on any matter relating to any Novartis product. If there are other or additional actions the MN Department of Human Services wishes me to do, I will comply."

Panelist Mary Graves disclosed that she worked for 3M Pharmaceuticals for three years ending in 2005. No drugs made by 3M came up at Tuesday's meeting.

Simon's form listed "Speaker's bureau for Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, Forest, Wyeth" and "meals at talks; $55.00/year." He abstained from a vote on asthma drugs, one of them made by AstraZeneca.

Simon will leave the panel because of discomfort about his pharmaceutical ties at the Minnesota Psychiatric Society, which originally asked him to serve.

Dr. William Korchik, the panel's chairman, noted the "increasing interest about conflict of interest."

He asked that future public meeting agendas include the manufacturers of drugs scheduled for discussion. That information hasn't appeared in the past, although many of the pharmaceutical representatives who attend the meetings are keenly aware of whose products are being discussed.

"It's gotten so complicated, with some drugs where there might be agreements between more than one company," Korchik said. "It would be useful to have that on our agenda."

The Drug Formulary Committee helps shape state policy on prescription drugs for about 200,000 Medicaid patients, many of them disabled or mentally ill people whose medical bills are paid directly by the state. Last year, the panel's recommendations guided spending on $240 million worth of medications.