Emory University psychiatrist accused of conflict of interest
Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff failed to report a third of the income he received from companies whose drugs he was evaluating, a congressional investigation finds.
A prominent Emory University psychiatrist received at least $2.8 million in consulting fees from companies whose drugs he was evaluating and failed to report a third of it, congressional investigators studying medical conflicts of interest said Friday.
The allegations against Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff, the latest in a series of such charges, are the most striking to emerge from the probe, which seems likely to alter the cozy relationships between prominent academics and the drug industry.
Nemeroff received the money from GlaxoSmithKline between 2000 and 2007 while he was the principal investigator on a $3.9-million National Institutes of Health study of five Glaxo drugs for treatment of depression, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), who initiated the investigation, said in a letter to Emory published Friday in the Congressional Record.
Nemeroff continued to receive large amounts of money for delivering talks to other physicians even after he signed university documents pledging to accept no more than $10,000 a year from any one company, the inquiry found.
Responding to the allegations, Nemeroff voluntarily stepped down as chairman of the psychiatry department at Emory on Friday pending a resolution of the matter.
Nemeroff did not respond to telephone and e-mail questions, but a university statement quoted him as saying, "To the best of my knowledge, I have followed the appropriate university regulations concerning financial disclosures."
Nemeroff is at least the sixth psychiatrist identified with such conflicts since this spring, when the congressional investigation began.
Experts added, however, that the problems extend throughout the profession.
"This . . . is the tip of the iceberg on conflict of interest in medicine," said Dr. Daniel Carlat, a psychiatrist at the Tufts University School of Medicine who edits a newsletter about psychiatry and writes a blog about conflicts of interest.
The findings are beginning to have repercussions.
Grassley is promoting a bill called the Physician Payment Sunshine Act that would require pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers to disclose all payments over $500 that they make to physicians.
At least two companies, Eli Lilly & Co. and Merck & Co., have said they will begin making such disclosures next year even if Grassley's bill is not enacted.
- Drug industry will pare gifts to physicians Jul 11, 2008
- Doctor freebies common, study says Apr 26, 2007
- The Sick NIH Dec 23, 2004
