The improper acceptance by US National Institutes of Health scientists of payments from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies represents "the largest scandal in all of the NIH's existence," according to Representative Edward Whitfield, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce's subcommittee on oversight and investigations.
While the NIH has taken necessary steps to improve its ethics programme, more action is needed, the Republican legislator told a hearing on Wednesday, held to air continuing congressional concerns that the NIH is failing to discipline employees who violate its ethics rules.
A year ago, after the US Office of Government Ethics published a report that was highly critical of the "permissive culture" at the NIH, the agency banned its employees from carrying out any paid consulting work with industry. "
We took this action because even the suggestion of ethical lapses, apparent or real, in NIH programmes would undermine public confidence in federally-supported medical research. We could not allow this to happen," Raynard Kington, principal deputy director of the NIH, told the committee.
Wednesday's hearing focused particularly on the cases of two prominent NIH scientists, Alzheimer's disease researcher Dr Trey Sunderland and cancer specialist Dr Thomas Walsh.
The NIH investigation had found both men guilty of misconduct so serious that, had they been civilians, they would have been dismissed. However, because they are officers of the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, their cases have to be held under Corps, not NIH, rules.
John Agwunobi, Assistant Secretary for Health at the Department of Health and Human Services, told the hearing that Dr Sunderland's Corps hearing had been delayed indefinitely because the Justice Department is considering criminal charges against him, while Dr Walsh's hearing had not commenced because it was awaiting the outcome of Dr Sunderland's. However, last week, plans began for a hearing for Dr Walsh, he said.
Source: PharmaTimes
1 comment:
Meanwhile our Congressman and Senators accept campaign money and take trips sponsored by lobbyists from Pharma, Tobacco, NRA you name it. Did somebody say Pot, Kettle, Black? I agree with the changes that need to be implemented regarding ethics I just wonder how Congressmen and Senators can get into such an uproar when they are even more guilty of bowing to lobbyist pressures and all it costs the American tax payer is Hmmm, I don't know let's see, the Medicare drug plan, the repeal of the assault rifle ban, and the list goes on and on.
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