Furious Seasons

January 05, 2009

Two Controversial Psychiatrists Get Their Wings Clipped

On Dec. 31 news came out that Joseph Biederman, the controversial Harvard child psychiatrist, had agreed to forego any industry funding of his work while various conflict of interest allegations against him are being investigated by officials at Massachusetts General Hospital. The move would not affect any government-funded research. The previous week controversial Emory University psychiatrist and top dog depression researcher Charles Nemeroff was permanently stripped of his position as chair of the psychiatry department at Emory. He also was found in violation of university policies and will face restrictions on future research.

The two researchers were in the news recently due to conflicts on interest wherein they took vast sums from pharmaceutical companies while also taking federal research dollars and while allegedly not revealing their pharma monies from their respective institutions, potentially in violation of NIH rules. As for Biederman, in November it was reported that he'd taken hundreds of thousands from J&J/Janssen, basically shaking the company down in the process, to fund a child psychopharmacology center at Mass. General.

I've written extensively about both Biederman and Nemeroff in the past.

What's interesting to me about the move with Biederman is that, according to press accounts, he lawyered up to handle whatever pressure he was under from Mass. General, so it gives you a sense that this wasn't just a casual agreement with his department chair. It's also interested that Biederman had defended his behavior in a letter to the Boston Globe earlier in December, claiming that he was only out to advance science not J&J's business interests, as some court documents had suggested.

Presumably, the restrictions on Biederman will be short-lived and Mass. General will conduct its investigation and mete out whatever punishment it deems appropriate in fairly short order. It's hard for me to believe that the hospital will treat Biederman harshly, as he is a major rainmaker there. Here's a list of his 29 ongoing or recently completed clinical trials, many of them sponsored by Big Pharma. I have no idea how much money he makes from these studies.

As for Nemeroff, while the loss of his department chairmanship may sound like a mere wound to his prestige, the university won't allow him to apply for NIH grants for two years and any outside income he's to make will have to be reviewed and approved of in advance by university officials. That's actually fairly serious stuff.

But, whatever you make of the sanctions against the two researchers, I've simply never before heard of two psychiatrists being hammered so hard by their institutions. So, maybe, some of the in-bed with Big Pharma research institutions are finally getting the message that this kind of nonsense cannot go on unquestioned.

Posted by Philip Dawdy at January 5, 2009 12:03 AM

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Comments

It impresses me when you find stuff in the AJC, my hometown paper, that I miss. Glad to have you back. The sanctions are good news.

Posted by: Sally at January 5, 2009 05:24 AM

The interesting thing about Nemeroff is that Emory had its legal counsel initially respond to Grassley by trying to spin Chuckie’s activities and take as “CME-like” and therefore not subject to reporting requirements. Grassley responded by basically threatening Emory and Nemeroff with indictments. It was only then that Emory threw Chuckie under the bus. These institutions are NOT going to give up their addictions easily!

Posted by: Tom at January 5, 2009 05:37 AM

It's satisfying that Emory did the right thing and removed Nemeroff from his position completely. You are definitely right Philip, that Mass General will likely do nothing else of any real significance to Biederman. MGH is not as serious as an institution in addressing confict of interests. The whole institution is practically one. Certainly the whole child psychiatry department is.

I think the pressure should continue to be fired against MGH and Biederman. He needs to be removed from his quasi-legitimate- medical-post of "Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology". His indiscretions were far worse than Nemeroff's and dserve at least equal consequences. In fact, this is profoundly upsetting that its so likely no other substantial action will be taken. But it must be taken.

Marcia Angell just hammered him in the New York Review of Books. It's clear the larger medical community is repugnated by his crappy, ivented childhood diseases, theorized out of air.

And I'm fortunate Angell made a remark in that article that seemed almost pointed at Biederman, when she mentioned "researchers" in quotations, often being nothing more than physicians who provide patients to put on a drug and then send minimal data back to the company. Something to that effect. Did anyone else think that was pointed at Biederman? Because it is certainly true of him.

The pressure needs to be kept on MGH and Biederman. Children's lives literally depend on it.

Posted by: JC at January 5, 2009 07:25 AM

I'd like to see Brown step up and do something to Martin Keller too. And there are a host of others that need at least some knuckle rapping. But even though, as you say, these are reasonably serious sanctions, it still isn't the criminal prosecution that I think these guys deserve for all the lives they have harmed or destroyed.

Posted by: Sara at January 5, 2009 10:03 AM

Glad you're back Philip. Good to see Grassley's poking is getting some results. Why is MGH so - immune to pressure?

Posted by: Deborah at January 5, 2009 12:45 PM

This is definitely a positive sign that maybe psychiatry will begin to free itself of the tainted influence of pharmaceutical companies, and focus more on helping our patients find some measure of relief from their distress.

Posted by: dguller at January 5, 2009 04:47 PM

MGH is the 800-pound gorilla in the Boston health "care" market. They merged with Brigham a few years back. Since then their greed and voraciousness are unparalleled. Look up Partners Health Care in the Boston GLOBE for details. They will never do anything to hurt their bottom line. Their patients? Well, that's a different story.

Posted by: Sherry at January 6, 2009 05:52 AM

Hmmmm.. Not that there's even the *slightest* possibility of Truth to it, BUT.. One can't help in wondering: I tried to get into an Emory program or two in seeking help a couple of years ago..

And it simply, absolutely never came to fruition.

Not that I believe in (or would *EVER* think to imply in the least) the existence of patient blacklists or the like.. :WINK, GRIN:

Warmest cyber hugs from North Georgia.. :)

Posted by: Cindy Sue Causey at January 6, 2009 08:11 AM