Ireland’s drug regulator has been accused of being too close to the pharmaceutical industry. An academic report has concluded that more than one-in-four senior personnel at the Irish Medicines Board (IMB) had “potential conflicts of interest”.

Orla O’Donovan, one of its authors, said public concern about the safety of drugs, such as swine-flu vaccines, could be alleviated if the IMB was more open about the relationship between its decision-makers and advisers and the drugs industry.

The report, published in Social Science & Medicine, showed a chairperson of one of the IMB’s advisory committees had taken part in research sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry and received industry honoraria and consultancy fees.

A former chief executive worked for a drug company before joining the IMB and left to work for another one.

Between 1996, when the agency was set up, and 2005, four members of the IMB’s senior management team had a background in the pharmaceutical industry and one of those also participated in research funded by drug companies, the research found. In total, five out of 19 senior people had links with the drug industry.

The IMB, a state body that charges pharmaceutical and medical devices companies for inspections of drugs, says no staff members have any drug company connections. It said advisory committees, which it does not regard as staff, do not make decisions.

The IMB said employees are not allowed to have any interest in the drug industry and are prohibited from working on products they have been involved with. “Products are licensed purely on the basis of their potential benefit to health,” an IMB spokeswoman said.

The study says the Irish Medicines Board Act of 1995, which set up the agency, is unclear about the “beneficial interest” committee members must declare, such as receiving honoraria from companies or serving on an advisory committee.

The study compares policies at the IMB with those of the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the European Medicines Agency. It found all three operate on the assumption that potential conflicts of interest can be managed and are therefore not a problem.

O’Donovan gave the example of a 2002 IMB newsletter which announced that Professor Frank Hallinan, a former Schering-Plough employee, had resigned as chief executive and would be joining Wyeth Biopharma as director of quality. Pat O’Mahony, his successor, worked as a technical manager in the veterinary pharmaceutical industry in Ireland and the UK.

O’Donovan’s study showed that public access to information about potential conflicts of interest of senior IMB personnel and advisers is restricted.

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