NIH under fire for alleged conflicts of interest

Angry members of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee threatened Wednesday to address allegations of conflicts of interest at the National Institutes of Health if the agency does not address the matter soon.

At that hearing, Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Jim Greenwood, R-Pa., accused lawyers from the Health and Human Services Department of "slow-rolling" subcommittee requests for information about scientists accepting consulting contracts or other forms of compensation from drug and biotechnology companies.

Greenwood said the practice -- which in many, if not most, cases is legal -- amounts to a "swivel chair" rather than a revolving door, but one that threatens the agency's appearance of impartiality.

Greenwood said since subcommittee investigators have not yet received the specific information requested from HHS about amounts scientists have received, he will ask drug companies themselves to provide it. HHS officials say in many cases, scientists are not required to disclose their outside arrangements to the agency.

That is likely to end, said Energy and Commerce Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas, who noted NIH has not been formally reauthorized in more than a decade, and he intends to try to rectify that this year.

In the meantime, he said, NIH is going to cooperate with the investigation. "They can cooperate cooperatively or we will make them cooperate coercively," Barton said.

Democrats were equally angry at reports some NIH scientists have taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from private firms over the past decade, and recent efforts to rein in the practice have produced only modest proposals for change.

"It appears the leadership of NIH may have fallen victim to a disease itself, and that disease is greed," said Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee ranking member Peter Deutsch, D-Fla.

NIH Director Elias Zerhouni, who appeared before the panel for the first time since the investigation was launched, defended the steps he has taken, including creation of a new NIH Ethics Advisory Committee to oversee outside activities.

But he defended the need to allow NIH employees to continue to receive outside income, so the agency recruit and retain the best scientific minds and to further NIH activities.

"Collaborations with the nongovernmental research community are vital, not only for understanding and advancing science, but for translating our knowledge into actual medical practice and treatment," he said.

Zerhouni said banning all outside activities "would be bad for science, unfair to the employees and ultimately hinder our efforts to improve the nation's health."