Should NIH Pull Insel Off Its Conflicts Commitee?
9 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // June 15th, 2010 // 7:29 am
Last month, the National Institues of Health proposed new rules that would require academic researchers who receive agency funding to more thoroughly report financial conflicts of interest and also require universities to do a better job of gathering this info and forwarding it to the NIH (background). One of those leading this effort has been Tom Insel, who heads the National Institute of Mental Health.
Lately, though, Insel has been caught up in a bit of a conflicts quagmire himself after a report that, at the same time he was sorting out the proposal, he was allegedly helping one academic - Charles Nemeroff, who has been the target of a US Senate Finance Committee probe - land a new job at another university. The disclosure prompted the committee to widen its ongoing probe into Nemeroff and his new employer, the University of Miami (see this), and put Insel on the defensive, especially since he was described as having a long-running relationship with Nemeroff (look here).
In his own blog post last week, Insel denied that he had not taken the need for conflicts-of-interest rules seriously or that he encouraged Nemeroff to apply for new NIH grants at Miami; existing NIH rules allow academics to do so after switching jobs, he explained, if they haven’t been disbarred. However, NIH director Frances Collins may consider a rule change to prevent such situations from occuring. Meanwhile, newly disclosed emails indicate that last year - just as the NIH was reviewing COI rules - Insel wasn’t in favor of creating an office to handle the problem (see here). And so the Project on Government Oversight, a non-profit, has written a letter Collins to ask that Insel be removed from the COI rules project due to his ” mushy ethical standards.” What do you think?
Should The NIH Ask Insel To Step Down From The COI Project?
- Yes (87%, 52 Votes)
- No (13%, 8 Votes)
Total Voters: 60
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Bernard Carroll
Here is an item in Nemeroff’s CV on the U Miami website:
Member, Review Group, Interventions Committee for Adult Mood and Anxiety Disorders (ITAV), 7/1/2006 - 6/30/2010
This means Insel allowed him to continue peer review activity even after he was sanctioned by Emory with a 2-year ban on involvement in NIH grants.
Plus, he now gets appointed by Insel to two new review groups! Go figure.
Andrea
Insel is speaking out of both sides of his mouth…He either helped Nemeroff or not, you can’t have it both ways. What difference does changing jobs make to one’s ethics? They go with the man, as far as I can tell…only in this case, to a warmer, balmier, ocean-side place. Watch out for the oil.
Stephany
Yes, Pompous Arse, Florida!
jill bester
yes- he should be removed
Evelyn Pringle
Absolutely he should be removed! As a tax payer I want somebody in charge who is going to take these matters seriously and put a stop to the funneling of my tax dollars to these greedy frauds.
peter yost
not sure what Collins will do or if he even considers this a problem. but it is and as others have said- Insel should be removed.
Larry Bone
Insel should be removed. He wants it both ways. Like the FDA label warnings on antidepressants, the experts bitterly complain they are unnecessary. Sales of labelled antidepressants are so huge it’s like there are no warnings. And there apparently aren’t enough birth defects, physical and mental disability and damage or homicides, suicides and death that can be directly attributable to antidepressants to have them banned; . . . . yet. It’s crazy. Yes, Insel should be removed. We are getting healthcare industry reform, financial markets industry reform, petroleum industry reform so now we should be getting long overdue pharmaceutical psychiatric industry reform. How bad does it have to get and the powers that be still don’t want to do anything?
John M. Nardo MD
If Insel were right-thinking about conflicts of interest, he would have already removed himself, but he’s not, raising the question about how much he ought to be removed from [as in the NIMH altogether]…
Stephany
Dr. John Nardo, that was a good letter to Editor of the Miami Herald regarding Nemeroff.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/16/1682788/too-little-too-late.html
This part especially:
“Now it has been revealed that many of his articles were ghost-written by the drug companies and that he recommended a drug, Paxil, as safe for pregnant women when, in fact, it can cause congenital heart defects in newborns.
One has to wonder what the people at UM are thinking? Or if they’re thinking at all?”
—
For reference point re: Paxil, safety in pregnancy and heart defects:
http://bigpharmavictim.blogspot.com/
“This blog is about Manie a little boy born with a rare heart defect because of Paxil use during pregnancy.GSK knew that Paxil could cause birth defects, but they said nothing.”
Manie was born with a heart defect, take a look at the photos and be even more disgusted with the unethical behaviors of Charles Nemeroff and GSK, etc.