A prominent psychiatrist at Emory University is the latest researcher to come under fire in Congress for violating federal and university rules against financial conflicts of interest.
The New York Times reports that Charles B. Nemeroff, chairman of the psychiatry department at Emory and former editor in chief of the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, earned more than $2.8-million for consulting with drug companies from 2000 to 2007 and hid much of that income from his university.
The figures were disclosed in documents provided to Congressional investigators working for Sen. Charles E. Grassley, a Republican of Iowa, as part of his continuing inquiry into scientists’ financial conflicts of interest.
Late Friday, Emory announced that Dr. Nemeroff had voluntarily stepped down as department chairman, pending the resolution of the controversy. Dr. Nemeroff was quoted in the Emory statement as saying that “to the best of my knowledge, I have followed the appropriate university regulations concerning financial disclosures.”
“I will cooperate fully and work with Emory to respond to the alleged conflicts of interest issues raised by Senator Grassley and his staff,” the statement said.
In June, Senator Grassley reported to Congress that three Harvard University psychiatrists — Joseph Biederman, Timothy E. Wilens, and Thomas Spencer — had underreported the money they had earned from drug companies.
In July, Alan F. Schatzberg, a Stanford University researcher, stepped down as principal investigator on his grant from a division of the National Institutes of Health after Senator Grassley pointed to an apparent conflict of interest with a drug company that Dr. Schatzberg had helped create.
The findings regarding Dr. Nemeroff’s conduct suggest it was more flagrant. In one instance, Dr. Nemeroff was the lead investigator for a $3.9-million project financed by that NIH division, the National Institutes of Mental Health, for which the company GlaxoSmithKline provided drugs.
Although agency rules forbade him as principal investigator to earn more than $10,000 per year from the company, Dr. Nemeroff crossed that threshold in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006, but lied about it to Emory, according to the Times.
The university would have been required to inform the NIH and either manage the conflict or remove Dr. Nemeroff as principal investigator.
According to the Times, Emory conducted its own investigation of Dr. Nemeroff in 2004 and found many “serious” and “significant” violations of university procedures meant to protect patients. But the university took no action other than telling the researcher to change his ways.
Senator Grassley has sponsored a bill called the Physician Payment Sunshine Act that would force drug and medical-device companies to list any payments of more than $500 to doctors.
In an interview in July with The Chronicle, Senator Grassley said aggressive moves by the NIH to pull grants from university scientists who failed to report conflicts of interest would forestall legislative action. —Jennifer Ruark
