POLICY/POLITICS: Fast Times at NIH by John Pluenneke

An internal review at the National Institutes of Health has cleared many of the NIH researchers the agency had earlier accused of violating conflict of interest rules, the Washington Post reports. NIH director Elias Zerhouni asked for sweeping restrictions on outside consulting after reports of widespread rule breaking. The Post notes:

"The finding that most of the allegations are false has many scientists complaining that Zerhouri did not get a better measure of the the problem before succumbing to pressure from congress and the government ethics office to prohibit virtually every kind of outside collaboration and to demand across the board divestitures."

The Los Angeles Times played a major role in bringing the consulting crisis to a head with a series of front page stories in December focused on prominent scientists at the NIH including cholesterol researcher Dr. Bryan Brewer, a member of the team which developed the nation's new cholesterol guidelines two years ago and Dr. Harvey Klein, a leading expert on blood transfusions.

Interestingly, the adversarial relationship between the paper and the NIH dates back to at least to the late nineties, as this 2003 piece by Slate's Jack Schafer documents.

The Post has an editorial today which agrees that changes were necessary  but argues the proposed restrictions on consulting and stock ownership are far too harsh.  As the paper notes, the findings of the internal review appear to support the position that Zerhouni may have seriously over reacted.  Of course, it remains to be seen if anybody will be convinced by  an internal review.