NIH Is Pressured to Bar Drug Industry Stipends (conflict of interest)

[papau]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-nih6aug06.story

THE NATION
NIH Is Pressured to Bar Drug Industry Stipends

By David Willman, Times Staff Writer


WASHINGTON — The National Institutes of Health's recent proposals for cleaning up conflicts of interest do not reach far enough, the nation's chief ethics officer has concluded, putting new pressure on the agency to ban all drug industry payments to its scientists.

In a 20-page report, the head of the Office of Government Ethics said that NIH was beset with a "permissive culture" and that firm, across-the-board restrictions were needed to restore public confidence in the nation's preeminent medical-research agency. A copy of the report, dated July 26, was obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

The report is a setback for the director of NIH, Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni, who in June proposed banning agency directors and certain other top officials from taking industry payments while allowing most NIH scientists to continue to accept consulting deals.

The acceptance of drug company consulting fees by federal researchers at the NIH has raised questions about the ability of the agency to maintain the independence in its scientific inquiries. <snip>