UN review committee on swine flu meets with drug makers

The external committee reviewing the World Health Organization's handling of the swine flu pandemic spoke with representatives from the pharmaceutical industry this week, the head of the panel said Friday.

Harvey Fineberg, the chair of the International Health Regulations Review Committee, was speaking to reporters in Geneva after the committee conducted a third set of meetings at WHO headquarters.

Besides drug makers, it also interviewed media outlets and government officials over three days.

"Our job isn't to reconcile opposing views or convey accurately per se what someone thinks. Our job is to conclude what we believe is to be correct," Fineberg said about his 27-member committee.

The US-based scientist said he found most striking disputes over the declaration of the A(H1N1) virus outbreak as a pandemic, whether this was in line with the rules, and whether the rules were changed as the virus spread.

"The committee has to come to understand why people believe it did or did not change," he said.

The final report from the committee is due early next year.