House votes to cut Chief Counsel's budget

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed by voice vote an amendment to the FDA appropriations bill that would remove $500,000 from the Office of the FDA Commissioner and allocate it to the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) sponsored the amendment and said the cut is intended to reduce the staff of FDA Chief Counsel Daniel Troy. In order for the reallocation to be enacted into law, it would have to be incorporated into corresponding Senate legislation or agreed upon during reconciliation of House and Senate spending bills.

At a press conference Tuesday morning, Hinchey criticized Troy for intervening in lawsuits filed against drug companies. Since Troy was appointed chief counsel in August 2001, FDA has filed briefs in four civil lawsuits arguing that the safety of an FDA-approved medical product should not be subject to litigation in state courts. Hinchey said he "has found evidence of inappropriate collusion or conflict of interest between Troy and the companies the counsel's office stood up for." Hinchey also said that Troy and FDA deliberately understated the extent of Troy's work for Pfizer (PFE), a litigant in one of the civil lawsuits, in the year before Troy's appointment to FDA. ...