According to the results of a new study, 10 of the 32 panel members of Food and Drug Administration advisory board who voted that the group of powerful pain killers continue to be sold had ties to the drug markers.

These producers are supposed to be either Pfizer Inc. or Merck & Co., with incentives for the board members ranging from consulting fees and speaking honoraria to receiving quest support from the companies.

After three days of hearings on the drugs, the panel voted 31-1 to keep Pfizer’s Celebrex on the market, 17-13 with 2 abstentions in favor of Pfizer’s Bextra and 17-15 that Merck’s Vioxx should be allowed back on sale.
``The advisory committee members and expert consultants were screened for conflicts of interest according to the same strict ethics guidelines FDA applies to all its advisory committees,’’ said Sheila Dearybury Walcoff, the FDA’s associate commissioner for external relations.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington consumer advocacy group, found 17 additional panelists with other links to drugmakers, including three to Merck or Pfizer that ``were deemed to be too old to be relevant,’’ the center said.

The transcript, containing individual panel members’ votes, has not yet been posted by the FDA. However, The Associated Press indicated that the 10 panel members in question voted 10-0 in favor of keeping Celebrex and Bextra available and 9-1 in favor of allowing Vioxx to be back onto the market.

Without taking into consideration those results the vote would have been 13-7 in favor of recalling Bextra and 14-8 to get Vioxx off sale.