Simply stated, yes and yes.
On the first suggestion, I don't know precisely how things happen here within Health Canada, but in the United States, for certain, external expertise is often sought, because it is impractical to house the requisite expertise within the building.
On the subject of the pharmaceutical industry's influence of medical practice and understanding and misrepresentation of facts, I agree with Dr. Persaud on the point that there needs to be separation. We're not interested as a business—maybe I can speak for the industry—in misrepresenting facts. We're interested in producing high-quality data that's acknowledged by experts, internal and external to Health Canada, and communicating them appropriately and not influencing unduly through continuing education or other means to drive prescriptions. That's not good business because it's not good medicine.