P
Phyllis
Interesting article in today's NY Times on the Cleveland Clinic and corporate connections
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January 25, 2005
Medical Researcher Moves to Sever Ties to Companies
By ANDREW POLLACK
hen Eric J. Topol, one of the nation's most prominent medical researchers, sought her advice after coming under pressure for his corporate ties, Catherine D. DeAngelis, editor in chief of The Journal of the American Medical Association, said she was straightforward.
"I said, 'If you're smart, just give it all up,' " she recalled. " 'I don't know how much you get, but whatever it is, it's not worth it.' "
Dr. Topol, who said he was thinking along the same lines, is doing just that.
In the last two months, he has been sending letters to drug, diagnostic and medical device companies, severing his consulting agreements and requesting that his name be removed from any corporate materials.
"I want to ensure that my own and the institution's academic integrity as its chief academic officer remain beyond even any appearance of a perceived conflict of interest," he said in one such letter sent to a medical company in December. The letter was read to a reporter by a health care industry executive on the condition he not be identified because the letter was supposed to be private.
Dr. Topol, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, drew embarrassing scrutiny last month when Fortune magazine reported that he was a paid consultant for a hedge fund that had made money betting that Merck stock would decline. He had been a vocal critic of Vioxx, a Merck drug, which was withdrawn from the market.
At the time of that report, he said that he had not known of the investment fund's position on Merck and was not an investor in the fund. But Dr. Topol said that he was ending his relationship with the fund and other financial concerns.
His new move goes beyond that, to encompass medical companies as well. Dr. Topol, who confirmed sending the letters, said in an interview that he would no longer receive pay for consulting or making speeches. But he said he would still participate in company-sponsored clinical trials at the Cleveland Clinic, for which the institution receives payment.
Dr. Topol insisted his move was not prompted solely by reports of his ties with the hedge fund. He said that he had been thinking and writing about the issue of conflict of interest for a long time.
He noted, for instance, that top officers of the National Institutes of Health were being made to give up consulting relationships with companies. "I believe that model is something that should be done across all academic medical centers," he said.
Dr. Topol would not say how many relationships with medical companies he had and how much he made from them. He acknowledged that he had ended relationships with the Medicines Company, DeCode Genetics, Eli Lilly and a partnership of Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis.
He said he has also ended or is ending relationships with PharmaNet, which runs clinical trials for drug companies; Creative Clinical Concepts, a diagnostics company; CardioMEMS, a device company; and CardioNet, a cardiac monitoring service.
He also resigned last year from the scientific advisory board of Forbes Medi-Tech, a Canadian biotech company. Fortune magazine had questioned whether Dr. Topol had made overly positive statements in a company news release about one of that company's clinical trials.
Dr. Topol said he still hoped to collaborate with drug and device companies - but without compensation - because that advances medicine and keeps him up to date.
For instance, he said, he is remaining on the scientific advisory board of Perlegen Sciences, a California company he described as on "the leading edge of genomics." But he has given up the roughly $10,000 annual pay for that job and stock options that could potentially be worth much more if the company succeeds.
Dr. Topol said that he did not think other researchers at the Cleveland Clinic had to follow his lead, saying that as chief academic officer he is in a particularly sensitive position.
Still, new conflict-of-interest guidelines being drawn up the clinic will strongly discourage researchers from having any relationships with Wall Street funds, as opposed to medical companies, according to Dr. Topol and to Eileen Sheil, a spokeswoman for the clinic.
Consultation with Wall Street has become a thriving activity for doctors in the last few years as investors try to discern whether drugs will succeed in clinical trials or in the marketplace. Dr. DeAngelis of the medical journal said she hoped Dr. Topol's move to sever company relationships would serve as an example to others.
"I think every physician, every scientist, should do exactly the same thing," she said. "We don't need it."
Reed Abelson contributed reporting for this article.
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company | Home | Privacy Policy | Search | Corrections | RSS | Help | Back to Top
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
January 25, 2005
Medical Researcher Moves to Sever Ties to Companies
By ANDREW POLLACK
hen Eric J. Topol, one of the nation's most prominent medical researchers, sought her advice after coming under pressure for his corporate ties, Catherine D. DeAngelis, editor in chief of The Journal of the American Medical Association, said she was straightforward.
"I said, 'If you're smart, just give it all up,' " she recalled. " 'I don't know how much you get, but whatever it is, it's not worth it.' "
Dr. Topol, who said he was thinking along the same lines, is doing just that.
In the last two months, he has been sending letters to drug, diagnostic and medical device companies, severing his consulting agreements and requesting that his name be removed from any corporate materials.
"I want to ensure that my own and the institution's academic integrity as its chief academic officer remain beyond even any appearance of a perceived conflict of interest," he said in one such letter sent to a medical company in December. The letter was read to a reporter by a health care industry executive on the condition he not be identified because the letter was supposed to be private.
Dr. Topol, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, drew embarrassing scrutiny last month when Fortune magazine reported that he was a paid consultant for a hedge fund that had made money betting that Merck stock would decline. He had been a vocal critic of Vioxx, a Merck drug, which was withdrawn from the market.
At the time of that report, he said that he had not known of the investment fund's position on Merck and was not an investor in the fund. But Dr. Topol said that he was ending his relationship with the fund and other financial concerns.
His new move goes beyond that, to encompass medical companies as well. Dr. Topol, who confirmed sending the letters, said in an interview that he would no longer receive pay for consulting or making speeches. But he said he would still participate in company-sponsored clinical trials at the Cleveland Clinic, for which the institution receives payment.
Dr. Topol insisted his move was not prompted solely by reports of his ties with the hedge fund. He said that he had been thinking and writing about the issue of conflict of interest for a long time.
He noted, for instance, that top officers of the National Institutes of Health were being made to give up consulting relationships with companies. "I believe that model is something that should be done across all academic medical centers," he said.
Dr. Topol would not say how many relationships with medical companies he had and how much he made from them. He acknowledged that he had ended relationships with the Medicines Company, DeCode Genetics, Eli Lilly and a partnership of Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis.
He said he has also ended or is ending relationships with PharmaNet, which runs clinical trials for drug companies; Creative Clinical Concepts, a diagnostics company; CardioMEMS, a device company; and CardioNet, a cardiac monitoring service.
He also resigned last year from the scientific advisory board of Forbes Medi-Tech, a Canadian biotech company. Fortune magazine had questioned whether Dr. Topol had made overly positive statements in a company news release about one of that company's clinical trials.
Dr. Topol said he still hoped to collaborate with drug and device companies - but without compensation - because that advances medicine and keeps him up to date.
For instance, he said, he is remaining on the scientific advisory board of Perlegen Sciences, a California company he described as on "the leading edge of genomics." But he has given up the roughly $10,000 annual pay for that job and stock options that could potentially be worth much more if the company succeeds.
Dr. Topol said that he did not think other researchers at the Cleveland Clinic had to follow his lead, saying that as chief academic officer he is in a particularly sensitive position.
Still, new conflict-of-interest guidelines being drawn up the clinic will strongly discourage researchers from having any relationships with Wall Street funds, as opposed to medical companies, according to Dr. Topol and to Eileen Sheil, a spokeswoman for the clinic.
Consultation with Wall Street has become a thriving activity for doctors in the last few years as investors try to discern whether drugs will succeed in clinical trials or in the marketplace. Dr. DeAngelis of the medical journal said she hoped Dr. Topol's move to sever company relationships would serve as an example to others.
"I think every physician, every scientist, should do exactly the same thing," she said. "We don't need it."
Reed Abelson contributed reporting for this article.
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company | Home | Privacy Policy | Search | Corrections | RSS | Help | Back to Top
