The whistleblower who raised the alarm about the conduct of a Sheffield University study with the drug company Procter & Gamble rejected a £145,000 payoff from his university.
Aubrey Blumsohn, senior lecturer at Sheffield University's Bone Metabolism Research Unit, said that signing a gagging clause and handing over research data would have compromised the debate over the issue. He is now likely to face disciplinary action by the university.
Dr Blumsohn was suspended in September this year after co-operating with an investigation by The Times Higher Education Supplement into his concerns. It has now emerged that Dr Blumsohn was offered £120,000 compensation for loss of employment and a further £25,000 for "injury to feelings" if he agreed to part company with Sheffield.
The deal, which Sheffield this week tried to keep secret by threatening The Times Higher Education Supplement with an injunction, would have given Dr Blumsohn little scope to discuss concerns about P&G and would have required him to return all clinical and research data.
It would also have stopped him from making "detrimental or de-rogatory statements" regarding his employment at Sheffield and about any of Sheffield's staff, including Tony Weetman, the medical school dean, and Robert Boucher, the vice-chancellor.
In a letter to the university rejecting the offer, dated December 1, Dr Blumsohn says: "Effectively, I would be accepting £145,000 in exchange for allowing part of the jigsaw of clinical and scientific debate to remain uncorrected, and this would be unconscionable."
Insider says: Dr. Blumsohn is to be applauded for this stand. Who on earth is advising Sheffield University?
Read the full story here:
http://www.thes.co.uk/current_edition/story.aspx?story_id=2026780
and here:
http://pharmagossip.blogspot.com/2005/12/pg-ghostwriters-boning-up-on.html
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