Opioid Panel Advising FDA Removes Four Provisional Members

Four people nominated for a FDA panel on opioids have been removed for unspecified reasons.

A spokeswoman for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine said that it pulled the nominees — Gavin Bart, Howard Gutstein, Mary Lynn McPherson and Greg Terman — the day before the panel’s first meeting last week. She did not explain the reason for their removal from the panel, which is developing recommendations for the FDA on combatting the opioid epidemic.

Terman, a professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine, says he believes that he was removed for his ties to the pharmaceutical industry and professional societies. Terman was president of the American Pain Society from 2014 to 2016.