Monday, August 14, 2023

Is the N.I.H. scientist royalty payment expose that big of a conflict of interest for science? $11,250 a year per scientist

  I read the excel spreadsheet list compiled of all the NIH scientists getting patent royalties. https://www.openthebooks.com/assets/1/6/8.9_NIH_Royalties_Unredacted_Watermarked2.xlsx

It's not clear how much each scientist gets though. The database just lists the source of the royalty and to which scientist but gives no dollar amounts!
But many details, such as who made the payments and the individual amounts, were redacted in the documents, he said.
"last 12 years $325 million flowed from the industry, think pharmaceutical companies, back into the NIH in bridging the agency, its leadership, and 2,400 of its scientists."
 So it's $27 million a year / 2,400 scientists=$11,250 a year per scientist...
It's actually not that much money. But I'm still not sure that all the money went to each scientist.

The press agency reported that two leading researchers, Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and his deputy, Clifford Lane, received payments relating to their development of interleukin 2 as a treatment for HIV/AIDS. Dr Lane told the BMJ that the payment was part of his federal compensation. He explained that the government patented the development and shared the payments it received with the inventors. Since 1997 he has received about $45 000 he says. The institutes awarded $36m in grants for studies to test the treatment.

Dr Anthony Fauci told the BMJ that as a government employee he was required by law to put his name on the patent for the development of interleukin 2 and was also required by law to receive part of the payment the government received for use of the patent. He said that he felt it was inappropiate to receive payment and donated the entire amount to charity.

So Lane received $45,000 over 8 years. $5,625 per year.
The report is fascinating but the actual financial amount turns out not to be that much per scientist per year.
and
for more details

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