WASHINGTON (February 25) - As part of a continuing investigation into management and ethics concerns at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman James Greenwood (R-PA) today requested information from the Department of Health and Human Services regarding the amount of fees NIH employees receive from drug companies for consulting outside their government work.

(Attached below is a copy of the letter sent February 25 to HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson.)

February 25, 2004

The Honorable Tommy Thompson Secretary Department of Health and Human Services 200 Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20201

Dear Secretary Thompson:

As part of its continuing investigation of management and ethics concerns at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Committee since December 8, 2003 has been examining the issue of NIH scientists receiving secret consulting fees and/or stock options from drug companies for consulting outside their government work. On January 14, 2004, the NIH produced in response to the Committee's request a listing of all cons ulting arrangements (past and current) for NIH employees since January 1, 1999. Despite the Committee's specific request for the dollar amount of monetary compensation of each consulting arrangement, this listing did not include the dollar amount of monetary compensation of each consulting arrangement. In light of this development, the NIH Director and I were both surprised to learn that ethics counselors and others at NIH who review and approve outside activity requests have not been required to ask the applicant the amount and type (e.g., cash, stock, or stock options) of income, compensation, fees, remuneration, expenses, or reimbursement that is to be received in connection with the proposed activity. Therefore, in many cases, the applicant did not provide this information to the ethics contact in the first instance and is not included in the underlying records provided to the Committee.

On January 27, 2004, the Department's Designated Agency Ethics Official (DAEO) directed all deputy ethics counselors and ethics contacts to ask the applicant the amount and type (e.g., cash, stock, or stock options) of income, compensation, fees, remuneration, expenses, or reimbursement that is to be received in connection with the proposed activity. (See attachment.) As the DAEO's directive indicates, "eliciting the dollar amount is relevant for determining whether the compensation is so excessive or disproportionate to the time expended as to suggest, for example, that public office is being used for private gain."

To date, the Committee has not yet received dollar amounts for any of the consulting arrangements in the listing provided by the NIH. It is my understanding that NIH will provide the dollar amounts for current, open consulting arrangements and tha t this information will be provided within the next few days to the Committee. However, the Department's Office of General Counsel has informed the Committee staff that it has not yet identified a legal basis to obtain dollar amounts for most of the past, closed consulting arrangements. Although I believe the Department is attempting in good faith to assist the Committee, I am increasingly concerned that we will be unable to resolve this issue in a timely fashion.

In addition, it is my understanding that the Department's Office of General Counsel, not the NIH, has records relating to the internal reviews or investigations of the six NIH officials who were profiled in the Los Angeles Times December 7, 2003 article about their outside consulting arrangements with drug companies. The Committee staff has recently requested these records from the Department. However, the records have not yet been produced, and it is unclear whether these records will be provided without a Chairman's letter.

At the January 22, 2004 hearing before the Senate Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee, Dr. Zerhouni maintained that an internal review had found no evidence that patients were harmed or that collaborations between NIH scientists and companies had resulted in undue influence on grant approvals or other decisions. Mr. Secretary, without the information on dollars amounts of the past consulting arrangements and without the records of the internal reviews, I am unable to evaluate such statements about these NIH outside arrangements.

Therefore, in support of the Committee's investigation and pursuant to Rules X and XI of the U.S. House of Representatives, I request that the following be provided by March 3, 2004:

1. All dollars amounts of the consulting arrangements (past and current) in the listing provided to the Committee. Please consider this a request that you ask all NIH employees to provide dollar amounts for any past consulting arrangement since January 1, 1999.
2. All records relating to any internal review or investigation conducted in response to the Los Angeles Times December 7, 2003 article about the following NIH officials: Stephen I. Katz, John I. Gallin, Richard C. Eastman, Ronald N. Germain, Jeffrey M. Trent, and Jeffrey Schlom.

Please note that, for the purpose of responding to these requests, the terms "records" and "relating" should be interpreted in accordance with the attachment to this letter.

Thank you for your assistance. If you have any questions, please contact Alan Slobodin of the Majority Committee staff at (202) 225-2927.

Sincerely,

James C. Greenwood, Chairman Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations

cc: The Honorable Peter Deutsch, Ranking Member Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations The Honorable Elias Zerhouni, M.D. Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH)