CDC’s Independence, Integrity Compromised by Funding from Private Industry

On its website, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) boasts a “Pledge to the American People” that outlines five commitments. Among these commitments is one to place the benefits to society above the benefits to the government agency. This prohibits employees “from participating in matters that post a conflict of interest or appearance of bias” in order to achieve the highest quality of research and to protect the nation’s health.”¹

Yet both the CDC as an organization, as well as many of its employees, receive funding from entities that present conflicts of interest—largely pharmaceutical companies—compromising its own pledge and the integrity of an agency that is entrusted to protect the health American public.

CDC Receives Pharma Funding Through Loophole Foundation

The loophole for the CDC is to claim the agency “has no financial interest or other relationships with the manufacturers of commercial products” because funds donated to the CDC are funneled through a non-profit branch of the agency known as the CDC Foundation. The foundation was established in the mid-1990s to act as a liaison between the CDC and the private sector to advance public health programs.^{1 2}

Pharma Companies Fund CDC Campaigns

Since the CDC Foundation was created in 1995, hundreds of corporations have contributed to public health foundations totaling $161 million in donations. The pharmaceutical company Roche, maker of the antiviral drug Tamiflu, donated $193,000 to fund a CDC influenza prevention campaign. One of the three recommendations put forth by the CDC in their “Take 3” influenza prevention campaign was to encourage people to take Tamiflu when they developed influenza symptoms.¹

This recommendation was made despite the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finding that clinical trial data failed to support Tamiflu’s claim that it saves lives and reduces hospitalizations.

BMJ Article Challenges Integrity of CDC

In 2015, Jeanne Lenzer, associate editor of the British Medical Journal (BMJ), cited this and many other CDC conflicts of interest in an article entitled “Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: protecting the private good?:”³ Lenzer outlined concerns over acceptance of funds that could affect the CDC’s independent decision making. She stated:

The CDC’s image as an independent watchdog over the public health has given it enormous prestige, and its recommendations are occasionally enforced by law. Despite the agency’s disclaimer, the CDC does receive millions of dollars in industry gifts and funding, both directly and indirectly, and several recent CDC actions and recommendations have raised questions about the science it cites, the clinical guidelines it promotes, and the money it is taking.³

Watchdog groups including Public Citizen, the Project on Government Oversight, and U.S. Right to Know have demanded that the CDC be transparent about industry funding they receive through their foundation. The CDC isn’t the only government organization that funnels money through an associated non-profit foundation. Congress has created foundations for many government organizations including the FDA and National Institutes of Health (NIH).¹

Judith Garber of the Lown Institute wrote:

We need to question why these foundations exist and push for more public funding of these agencies, rather than force public health agencies to rely on industry funding for their programs and compromise their independence.¹

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