Fwd: Senior NIH Researcher PLEADS GUILTY

[Guest guest]

http://www.the-scientist.com/news/daily/37502/

Pearson " Trey " Sunderland III, former chief of the Geriatric

Psychiatry Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health, pleaded

guilty Friday (Dec. 8) to violating federal conflict of interest laws

in connection with unapproved consulting for Pfizer Inc. It was the

first criminal conviction emerging from more than two years of

investigations by Congress and other government agencies into

financial conflicts of interest at the National Institutes of Health.

Sunderland, 55, faces up to a year in prison and $100,000 in fines

from the single misdemeanor charge, but prosecutors have agreed to a

plea bargain in which he would escape jail time and receive two years

supervised probation, forfeit $300,000 in consulting fees and other

outside income, perform 400 hours of community service, and pay a

fine to be determined by the court. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec.

22.

" Dr. Sunderland violated the fundamental rule that government

employees cannot accept payment from interested private parties

without the permission of their supervisors, " U.S. Attorney Rod J.

Rosenstein said in a statement Friday. Sunderland's consulting for

Pfizer began in 1998 and continued through 2003. He neither requested

permission from the NIH nor reported the personal income on annual

financial reports. In February 2005, the NIH tightened the rules and

banned all consulting.

Another senior researcher, J. Walsh, head of the Pediatric

Oncology Branch at the National Cancer Institute, may be of increased

interest to federal prosecutors now that Sunderland's case has been

concluded, a government source said. Walsh engaged in " serious

misconduct " by accepting more than $100,000 in consulting fees from

drug and biotech companies, according to an internal NIH document

obtained by the Los Angeles Times. He accepted fees from 25 companies

and has led government-sponsored research involving some of those

companies' drugs, according to the document.

Vicki E. LeDuc, spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office in

Baltimore, told The Scientist she could neither confirm nor deny that

prosecutors planned to pursue criminal action against the researcher.

Walsh did not respond to a request for comment, but has previously

denied wrongdoing. " We have not heard anything from prosecutors, " his

attorney, H. Bradford Glassman, told The Scientist on Friday.

In his plea agreement, Sunderland admitted to having accepted

$300,000 in payments from Pfizer over five years in connection with

his Alzheimer's biomarker research. He also admitted to giving Pfizer

approximately 800 tubes of cerebrospinal fluid samples previously

collected from National Institute of Mental Health research subjects.

Sunderland actually received more than $600,000 in fees from Pfizer

without prior disclosure or approval and improperly transferred 3,200

vials of human spinal fluid and 388 tubes of plasma collected from

more than 500 Alzheimer's patients and their families, according to a

report released in June by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee

on Oversight and Investigations. Neither the additional payments nor

sample transfers were part of the Justice Department's case.

Sunderland " received honoraria for consulting and educational

activities that were reasonable and customary for an expert of his

stature and expertise, " Pfizer spokesman F. Lederer told The

Scientist in an email. " We believe our actions complied with

applicable laws and ethical standards. We are not aware of any

allegation that we violated any law or regulation. "

Sunderland and Walsh are both members of the U.S. Public Health

Service Commissioned Corps, the uniformed service led by the surgeon

general. As such, they are shielded from NIH termination or

disciplinary measures. Sunderland asked to retire from the NIH two

years ago, but the Corps refused to grant his request while criminal

and other investigations were underway.

Corps spokesperson Pearson declined to discuss Sunderland

or Walsh's employment status. " We're concerned whenever allegations

are made and take them seriously, " she told The Scientist on

Friday. " But we are not able to provide any details because they are

personnel matters. "

The Geriatric Psychiatry Branch at the National Institute of Mental

Health has been disbanded, and Sunderland currently works in a grants

administration office. NIH spokesman Don Ralbovsky refused to discuss

Sunderland's status, saying it was " still a pending personnel

matter. "

" Hopefully [the criminal charges] will also clear the way for Dr.

Sunderland's termination from the Commissioned Corps, " Larry Neal,

spokesman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said in a

statement. " That as of a few months ago he continued to collect his

salary and travel to Hawaii and other locales on taxpayer-funded

trips is a total betrayal of the public trust. "

Ted Agres

tagres@...

Links within this article:

18 U.S.C. 208(a)

http://www.usoge.gov/pages/laws_regs_fedreg_stats/lrfs_files/statutes/

18usc208.txt

Pearson " Trey " Sunderland III

http://clinicalcenter.nih.gov/about/news/mfp/mfp03/bios03/sunderland.s

html

U.S. Attorney statement

http://usaomd.blogspot.com

T. Agres, " NIH bans all consulting, " The Scientist, Feb. 2, 2005

http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/22586/

J. Walsh

http://ccr.nci.nih.gov/Staff/Staff.asp?profileid=5598

Alzheimer's biomarker research

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/Press/prbiomarker.cfm

T. Agres, " Senior NIH scientist faulted, " The Scientist, June 14,

2006

http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/23643/#23658

[Guest guest]

http://www.the-scientist.com/news/daily/37502/

Pearson " Trey " Sunderland III, former chief of the Geriatric

Psychiatry Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health, pleaded

guilty Friday (Dec. 8) to violating federal conflict of interest laws

in connection with unapproved consulting for Pfizer Inc. It was the

first criminal conviction emerging from more than two years of

investigations by Congress and other government agencies into

financial conflicts of interest at the National Institutes of Health.

Sunderland, 55, faces up to a year in prison and $100,000 in fines

from the single misdemeanor charge, but prosecutors have agreed to a

plea bargain in which he would escape jail time and receive two years

supervised probation, forfeit $300,000 in consulting fees and other

outside income, perform 400 hours of community service, and pay a

fine to be determined by the court. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec.

22.

" Dr. Sunderland violated the fundamental rule that government

employees cannot accept payment from interested private parties

without the permission of their supervisors, " U.S. Attorney Rod J.

Rosenstein said in a statement Friday. Sunderland's consulting for

Pfizer began in 1998 and continued through 2003. He neither requested

permission from the NIH nor reported the personal income on annual

financial reports. In February 2005, the NIH tightened the rules and

banned all consulting.

Another senior researcher, J. Walsh, head of the Pediatric

Oncology Branch at the National Cancer Institute, may be of increased

interest to federal prosecutors now that Sunderland's case has been

concluded, a government source said. Walsh engaged in " serious

misconduct " by accepting more than $100,000 in consulting fees from

drug and biotech companies, according to an internal NIH document

obtained by the Los Angeles Times. He accepted fees from 25 companies

and has led government-sponsored research involving some of those

companies' drugs, according to the document.

Vicki E. LeDuc, spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office in

Baltimore, told The Scientist she could neither confirm nor deny that

prosecutors planned to pursue criminal action against the researcher.

Walsh did not respond to a request for comment, but has previously

denied wrongdoing. " We have not heard anything from prosecutors, " his

attorney, H. Bradford Glassman, told The Scientist on Friday.

In his plea agreement, Sunderland admitted to having accepted

$300,000 in payments from Pfizer over five years in connection with

his Alzheimer's biomarker research. He also admitted to giving Pfizer

approximately 800 tubes of cerebrospinal fluid samples previously

collected from National Institute of Mental Health research subjects.

Sunderland actually received more than $600,000 in fees from Pfizer

without prior disclosure or approval and improperly transferred 3,200

vials of human spinal fluid and 388 tubes of plasma collected from

more than 500 Alzheimer's patients and their families, according to a

report released in June by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee

on Oversight and Investigations. Neither the additional payments nor

sample transfers were part of the Justice Department's case.

Sunderland " received honoraria for consulting and educational

activities that were reasonable and customary for an expert of his

stature and expertise, " Pfizer spokesman F. Lederer told The

Scientist in an email. " We believe our actions complied with

applicable laws and ethical standards. We are not aware of any

allegation that we violated any law or regulation. "

Sunderland and Walsh are both members of the U.S. Public Health

Service Commissioned Corps, the uniformed service led by the surgeon

general. As such, they are shielded from NIH termination or

disciplinary measures. Sunderland asked to retire from the NIH two

years ago, but the Corps refused to grant his request while criminal

and other investigations were underway.

Corps spokesperson Pearson declined to discuss Sunderland

or Walsh's employment status. " We're concerned whenever allegations

are made and take them seriously, " she told The Scientist on

Friday. " But we are not able to provide any details because they are

personnel matters. "

The Geriatric Psychiatry Branch at the National Institute of Mental

Health has been disbanded, and Sunderland currently works in a grants

administration office. NIH spokesman Don Ralbovsky refused to discuss

Sunderland's status, saying it was " still a pending personnel

matter. "

" Hopefully [the criminal charges] will also clear the way for Dr.

Sunderland's termination from the Commissioned Corps, " Larry Neal,

spokesman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said in a

statement. " That as of a few months ago he continued to collect his

salary and travel to Hawaii and other locales on taxpayer-funded

trips is a total betrayal of the public trust. "

Ted Agres

tagres@...

Links within this article:

18 U.S.C. 208(a)

http://www.usoge.gov/pages/laws_regs_fedreg_stats/lrfs_files/statutes/

18usc208.txt

Pearson " Trey " Sunderland III

http://clinicalcenter.nih.gov/about/news/mfp/mfp03/bios03/sunderland.s

html

U.S. Attorney statement

http://usaomd.blogspot.com

T. Agres, " NIH bans all consulting, " The Scientist, Feb. 2, 2005

http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/22586/

J. Walsh

http://ccr.nci.nih.gov/Staff/Staff.asp?profileid=5598

Alzheimer's biomarker research

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/Press/prbiomarker.cfm

T. Agres, " Senior NIH scientist faulted, " The Scientist, June 14,

2006

http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/23643/#23658

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