FDA's new expert panels are rife with financial conflicts and fringe views

A series of panels convened by the Food and Drug Administration is raising concerns that the agency is skirting federal rules and promoting fringe views about antidepressants and other products. The FDA has more than 30 panels of experts specializing in drugs, vaccines and other products. But increasingly, the agency isn’t calling them. Instead, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary is holding ad hoc sessions with outside experts who often have contrarian views and financial interests in the topics under discussion. The meetings have focused on issues of interest to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including depression pills and talc powder.