Reacting to Reports of Paid Consultancies, NIH Forming Conflicts-Of-Interest Panel

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NIH Forming Conflicts-Of-Interest Panel

Thu Jan 22, 2:48 PM ETBy RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Reacting to reports that researchers received thousands of dollars as consultants with private firms, the head of the National Institutes of Health (news - web sites) said Thursday he is forming a special task force to review such relationships for possible conflicts.

Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni told the Senate Health and Human Services (news - web sites) appropriations subcommittee that he will ask the panel to report in 90 days on what types of collaboration are appropriate and to make recommendations for any rules changes that may be needed. The subcommittee called in Zerhouni to respond to reports that some NIH scientists have been paid thousands of dollars in cash and stock to serve as consultants. He did not discuss specific cases other that to say they were under review. But Zerhouni stressed that under rules changes made in 1995, NIH scientists are allowed to consult with private firms on projects that are not part of their direct government research work. He said his office is currently reviewing the 365 such collaborations currently in effect to make sure they follow the rules. Crossover between NIH researchers and the private sector is important to move basic research into treatments that improve health, he said, "but in that process the people at NIH need to have absolutely clean hands." Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said be feels the relationships could pose a substantial problem that needs to be investigated, particularly if a scientist collaborates with one company to the exclusion of others. But Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, stressed the benefits of government-industry relationships, commenting, "I believe we need to encourage collaboration rather than putting some sort of taint on it." Zerhouni said no new approvals for outside consulting will be issued until the new committee completes its study. He said the approximately 200 scientists with approved consulting arrangements represent about 3 percent of the agency's researchers. None of the NIH's institute directors have consulting agreements, he said. Zerhouni's office later announced that the new review panel will be headed by Bruce Alberts, a biochemist who is president of the National Academy of Sciences (news - web sites), and Norman R. Augustine, chairman of the executive committee of Lockheed Martin and former head of the National Academy of Engineering (news - web sites). Marilyn L. Glynn, acting director of the Office of Government Ethics, told the panel that her agency conducts periodic ethics reviews at government branches and is currently doing one at NIH. The review will focus on the structure of NIH's ethics program, the public financial disclosure system and the process for approving outside activities, she said. The last NIH review, in 2000, found that a new ethics official at the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Disease could not locate approvals for outside activity granted before he took the position, Glynn said in testimony. She said that has been corrected. Dr. Stephen I. Katz, director of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, said in testimony that he previously had done outside consulting but had terminated the one remaining agreement in November. The consulting arrangements generally involved his critiquing company programs to address specific scientific issues, said Katz, who was been a focus of reports on NIH scientists' outside work. "In no instance did I ever discuss, with any company with which I was consulting, any research that it might be conducting with the NIH or any application it might have submitted to NIH for funding," he said in testimony. http://story.news./news?tmpl=story & u=/ap/20040122/ap_on_sc/nih_ethics_1