CORRECTION: An Associated Press article about a federal criminal case accusing Dr. P. Trey Sunderland III of improperly accepting consulting fees from a drug maker, misstated the level of the charge against him. Dr. Sunderland was charged with "non-willful" criminal violation, a misdemeanor which carries a maximum one year prison term and $100,000 fine. It is NOT a felony, which is punishable by more than one year prison term.
A follow-up letter to FDA Commissioner, Andrew vonEschenbach RE: Thomas Laughren, FDA’s ‘s Director of Psychiatry Products who has been actively promoting psychotropic drugs–even penning his name to ghostwritten industry-sponsored articles and consensus panels.
Unhealthy Ethics? The Price of NIH Credibility_ Editorials: WashPost / Los Angeles Times Mon, 11 Apr 2005 Compare and contrast two editorials that focus on the new conflict of interest rules that were adopted by Dr. Elias Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health, to rein in the corrupting…
NIH: Public Servant or Private Marketer? NIH Seeks Outside Inquiry of Alzheimer’s researcher conflicts of interest – LAT Mon, 31 Jan 2005 A year after the Los Angeles Times published its first an in-depth investigative report documenting in detail evidence of major conflicts of interest by top scientists at the…
NIH: Public Servant or Private Marketer? Wed, 22 Dec 2004 David Willman of the Los Angeles Times provides an important reminder that the FDA is not the only government healthcare agency to have betrayed the public trust and lost its credibility. While the FDA has lent its seal of approval…
NIH Under Fire: Longtime Favorite of Congress – Wash Post / WSJ Sun, 27 Jun 2004 Under fire from Congress with evidence of NIH staff engaging in secret outside contracts and consultancies, NIH Director, Dr. Elias Zerhouni, turned a corner. He acknowledged the problem at a hearing (June 22) of…
"This is really an ethical Potemkin village, where a hollow system appears to provide the illusion of integrity, but transgressors never leave."
The Los Angeles Times has uncovered yet additional evidence of financial misconduct and corrupt practices at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Dr. Trey Sunderland III, chief of the geriatric psychiatry branch at the National Institute of Mental Health, pled the Fifth amendment.
NIH Scientists Gripe At Ethics Rule: NO Stocks in Pharmaceutical Companies – LAT / WSJ Sat, 5 Mar 2005 A group of dissident NIH scientists represented by an 18 member executive committee, are gripping about new rules prohibiting them from accepting fees for outside activities. Conflict of interest rules apply…
NIH to Ban Consulting Deals With Drug Firms – LAT / NYT Tue, 1 Feb 2005 Thanks to the investigative reports by David Willman in the Los Angeles Times, shedding light on secret financial ties by sernior scientists at the National Instiutes of Health, the public gained insight into the…
LA Times: NIH Dissident Scientists Hire Drug Industry Lawyers–Evidence of Journalistic Shilling Fri, 22 Apr 2005 Pulitzer Prize winner David Willman of the Los Angeles Times, whose investigative reporting first revealed the major covert conflicts of interest among top scientists and administrators at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), reports…
