Psychiatrists Fail To Reveal Full Pay From Pharmaceutical Industry

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 Psychiatrists Fail To Reveal Full Pay From Pharmaceutical Industry

www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/us/08conflict.html?_r=1 & hp & oref=slogin

2008-06-08 03:09:43

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A world-renowned Harvard University child psychiatrist whose work has helped

fuel an explosion in the use of powerful anti-psychotic medicines in children

earned at least $1.6 million in consulting fees from drug makers from 2000 to

2007 but for years did not report much of this income to university officials,

according to information given Congressional investigators.

By failing to report income, the psychiatrist, Dr. Joseph Biederman, and a

colleague in the psychiatry department at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Timothy E.

Wilens, may have violated federal and university research rules designed to

police potential conflicts of interest, according to Senator Charles E.

Grassley, Republican of Iowa. Some of their research is financed by government

grants.

Like Dr. Biederman, Dr. Wilens belatedly reported earning at least $1.6 million

from 2000 to 2007, and another Harvard colleague, Dr. Thomas Spencer, reported

earning at least $1 million after being pressed by Grassley’s investigators.

Even these amended disclosures may understate the researchers’ outside income

because some entries contradict payment information from drug makers, Grassley

found.

In one example, Dr. Biederman reported no income from Johnson & Johnson for 2001

in a disclosure report filed with the university. When asked to check again, he

said he received $3,500, but Johnson & Johnson told Grassley that it paid him

$58,169 in 2001, Grassley found.

The Harvard group*s consulting arrangements with drug makers were already

controversial because of the researchers* advocacy of unapproved uses of

psychiatric medicines in children.