The Food and Drug Administration is to remove representatives of pharmaceutical companies from its advisory committees in order to reduce industry influence over their decisions.

The FDA’s new commissioner, Dr Marty Makary issued a statement on Thursday saying that the move would ensure the FDA made the right decisions on drug regulation in the future, after being “influenced unduly” by industry in the past.

InfoWars reports: Makary wrote: “Industry employees are welcome to attend FDA advisory committee meetings, along with the rest of the American public, but having industry employees serve as official members of FDA advisory committee members represents a cozy relationship that is concerning to many Americans”

“In fact, the FDA has a history of being influenced unduly by corporate interests.”

In total, the FDA has 32 advisory committees, on areas ranging from vaccines to medical devices. Although members are primarily federal employees and non-industry experts, industry representatives do sit on these panels.

The Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, for example, had representatives from Pfizer officer and Dynavax at its most recent meeting.

These industry representatives do not cast votes, but they do provide information that could sway voting.

In his statement, Commissioner Makary said trust needs to be restored in healthcare.

“Public trust in the healthcare-industrial complex is at an all-time low. We need to restore impeccable integrity to the process and avoid potential conflicts of interest.”