Did Ties To Alzheimers Test Maker Sway NIH Report?
Athena Neurosciences Inc. scored a coup last April, when an expert panel convened by the National Institutes of Health suggested that one of its tests for Alzheimer’s disease was superior to rivals’ tests in diagnosing the dementing illness. Athena wasted no time trumpeting the results to thousands of physicians. The report “has been very, very good for us,” says David Hanak, a product manager at Athena, noting that sales of the genetic test are up 28% this year. But in a flap that underscores the often-close ties between the pharmaceutical industry, government and academia, some Alzheimer’s researchers are crying foul. Five of the panel’s eight members had financial or research ties to Athena, a South San Francisco, Calif., unit of Ireland’s Elan Corp. PLC. The panel’s “consensus report,” published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging, doesn’t disclose these relationships. Some medical ethicists consider this a glaring omission. In addition, Athena provided a $100,000 grant to fund th
