Company hired by feds denies conflict on virus

A medical research company [Constella Group] hired by the federal government to update its list of carcinogens added a virus to the list while two of its clients were developing vaccines to combat that same virus, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said the Constella Group's two clients, Merck & Co. and GlaxoSmithKline, are involved in a push to have every adolescent girl in the nation receive the vaccine against the sexually transmitted human papilloma virus.

But Don Holzworth, Constella's founder and chief executive officer, denied in a letter to the Journal Sentinel that there is even a hint of a conflict.

"The work that we did on behalf of Merck and GlaxoSmithKline, and any other pharmaceutical or biotechnology clients, does not conflict with any work that we have previously done, or are currently doing, on behalf of our government contracts," he said.

The Journal Sentinel said Glaxo officials did not respond to repeated requests for comment, and a Merck spokesman declined comment.
Calls Sunday by The Associated Press to Constella, Merck and Glaxo were not immediately returned.

The Journal Sentinel said the Constella Group has received more than $246 million from an array of federal agencies during the last seven years while also working for drug companies the government oversees.

Holzworth told the newspaper the company has its own ethics board, among other measures, to protect against conflicts.

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Drug-testing industry turns to private sector

In the 1980s, when pharmaceutical companies were looking to cut costs and speed up the process of getting drugs through the cumbersome federal review and approval process, an industry was born: contract research organizations, or CROs.

These private companies, staffed with scientists and analysts, are designed to provide pharmaceutical companies and federal health agencies with everything from testing new drugs to evaluating the safety and ethics of industry clinical trials - once the domain of in-house staff and university campuses.

And they're becoming increasingly popular because of the emphasis they place on fast results.
Universities "are not all about efficiency and speed, you know, it's a whole different mode," said Don Holzworth, Constella Group founder and chief executive officer. "It's pure thought leadership - they are paid to sit back and think and think and think and think, and then publish."

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