NIH $ frozen amid conflict probe

An Emory University psychiatrist under investigation by a Senate committee for allegedly failing to disclose more than a million dollars in pharmaceutical company pay has stepped down as principal investigator on a $9.3 million National Institutes of Health research grant. The researcher, Charles Nemeroff, is the linkurl:second;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54935/ scientist who has recently stepped down from an NIH grant amid Senate scrutiny of undisclosed conflicts of interest. Ac

Written byBob Grant
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An Emory University psychiatrist under investigation by a Senate committee for allegedly failing to disclose more than a million dollars in pharmaceutical company pay has stepped down as principal investigator on a $9.3 million National Institutes of Health research grant. The researcher, Charles Nemeroff, is the linkurl:second;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54935/ scientist who has recently stepped down from an NIH grant amid Senate scrutiny of undisclosed conflicts of interest. According to Ron Sauder, an Emory spokesperson interviewed by the linkurl:__Atlanta Journal-Constitution__,;http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/dekalb/stories/2008/10/14/nemeroff_emory_funds.html the NIH will withhold the remainder of funding on the five-year grant - which began in July 2006 - "pending resolution of outstanding issues relating to conflict of interest procedures." Nemeroff linkurl:resigned;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/55072/ his chairmanship of Emory's psychiatry department on October 3 as the university launched its own investigation into his apparent failure to disclose industry ties. The NIH is now requiring the university's Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) and all Emory researchers hoping to secure agency funding to submit and assure detailed records of who is participating on proposed projects and what financial conflicts they may have. "As you may know, the University has been under scrutiny in connection with our business practices for the management of research financial conflict of interest," Emory's vice president for research administration David Wynes wrote in a linkurl:memo;http://www.pharmalot.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/emory-coi-1a.jpg to university researchers last week. "It is important to note that, in the future, OSP will non [sic] submit any NIH grant application until disclosures have been received for every Investigator participating in the study." In the memo, Wynes explained that "as of October 8, 2008 the NIH has imposed special award conditions on all awards made to Emory University. The special award conditions will affect both the submission of proposals to the NIH as well as the receipt of funding." (Thanks to the linkurl:__Pharmalot__;http://www.pharmalot.com/2008/10/nih-requires-emory-to-disclose-all-conflicts/ blog for posting a copy of the memo.) Nemeroff was originally accused of linkurl:failing to report payments from drug maker GlaxoSmithKline;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/55072/ by Senate Finance Committee ranking Republican Charles Grassley, who has recently linkurl:investigated;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/55058/ similar apparent indiscretions among other NIH-funded researchers.
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Meet the Author

  • From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.

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