Novartis's Herrling gets place on WHO panel despite conflicts of interest
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
Professor Paul Herrling, head of corporate research at Novartis, will sit on a World Health Organization panel tasked to solve financing of R&D into diseases affecting poor countries despite have a direct conflict of interest. The decision by the World Health Organization's executive board was made on 21 January, despite protests from some developing countries and nine NGOs, including Knowledge Ecology International, Oxfam, MSF and Health Action International (scripintelligence.com, 19 January 2010).