The National Institutes of Health is facing mounting criticism and questions amid a series of reports outlining what appears to be an all-too-cozy relationship with the alcohol industry.

Central to the concerns are how the federal research agency schmoozed industry executives into donating tens of millions of dollars for a study assessing the potential health benefits of daily drinking. Researchers and NIH officials pitched the study by strongly suggesting that it would end up endorsing moderate drinking as part of a healthy lifestyle, documents and interviews showed.

Amid that wooing, other researchers claimed for the first time Monday that they were scolded by agency officials for collecting data that appeared critical of the alcohol industry. They also suggest that the agency spiked a similarly critical research proposal, despite that it was highly ranked by scientific peers who evaluate proposals for funding purposes.