"I have a well-regarded reputation both inside and outside of NIH for adhering strictly to the rule preventing me from revealing or using specific knowledge of my NIH research during consulting activities and for keeping all outside activities from having any bearing on the conduct of my activities as a [government] employee," Germain said.
By consulting for the companies, he said, "my general insight into immunology and related biomedical sciences can be used to help develop new drugs and treatments for Americans." He said he provided the law firm with "expert opinion on immunological matters." His advice to the investment fund, Germain said, concerned "whether or not I believe that a particular technology or approach has a strong scientific base."
His consulting work also provides his family with "greater financial security," he said. "This is of special importance to me because as a former Hodgkin's lymphoma patient, it was difficult until recently to obtain adequate life insurance coverage while being at increased risk for an early death."
Germain, a graduate of Harvard Medical School, has been deputy director of his laboratory, housed in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, since 1987.
He was warned about conflicts of interest two years ago by an NIH lawyer, Karen Santoro.
But the lawyer's concern focused only on Germain's investments in mutual funds composed of biotech and health-care companies, some of which held contracts with his NIH lab. "Each underlying company may pose a potential conflict," Santoro told Germain in a May 11, 2001 e-mail.
Two companies on the mutual fund list were consulting clients for Germain. Yet Santoro's e-mail said nothing about the fees and stock options they and other companies were paying him.
Germain, in an e-mail to Santoro three days later, agreed to exchange his securities for "holdings that are not concentrated in the health and biotech areas."
Germain told The Times, "Ms. Santoro was fully aware of all my consulting arrangements and compensation."
Many firms for which Germain has consulted have sought to develop products in the same frontiers he or others at the NIH explore, including:
* Genetics Institute, a Massachusetts-based branch of an industry titan, Wyeth.
In 2001, Genetics Institute and Germain's lab entered a formal collaboration called a cooperative research and development agreement, or CRADA, to study the effect that genes have on the immune system. That same year, Genetics Institute paid Germain $37,500 in fees. Germain accepted $25,000 last year.
