NAMI Board Member Was Paid Consultant To AstraZeneca On Seroquel

Very big props to Jim Edwards at bnet.com and to whomever handed off some documents to him which reveal that Jim Dailey, then policy director of NAMI Kentucky and a NAMI National Board member, received $600 from AstraZeneca (at the time fighting to get market share for its antipsychotic Seroquel) in return for acting as a consultant for the company for one day in December 2003. You can obtain the document--essentially a contract between AZ and Dailey plus an itinerary of his meeting with AZ--at bnet.com.

Also attending the meeting were NAMI National's executive director Michael Fitzpatrick and Chuck Harmon, NAMI's director of corporate relations. To be discussed at the meeting, according to the document, was a presentation by AZ officials of what it saw as the role of advocacy groups in helping the company achieve its "Seroquel Vision." Also to be discussed were the "increasing role" of state Medicaid programs and "MAP initiatives" as well as "ensuring access for patients." MAP would of course be a reference to a medication algorithm project such as the infamous TMAP.

The NAMI officials were slated to lay out their views on "Partnering Opportunities" and the Mind of America program. Dailey was scheduled to discuss access issues in Kentucky while Harmon would address "current activities within industry."

Why would a NAMI official who was receiving a salary from NAMI Kentucky suddenly get a $500 honorarium from AZ? ($100 was the reimburse travel expenses.) That makes no sense to me.

In March 2004, NAMI Kentucky announced the launch of the Mind of America program:

"'Every day, our communities witness evidence of the consequences to our communities of the neglect of services for people with mental illness,' said Jim Dailey, Policy Director, NAMI Kentucky, and NAMI National board member.

"Advocates and experts will present report findings to legislators and other policymakers on the scope of the mental health crisis in Kentucky, and recommend solutions that are evidence-based, cost-effective, and safe.

"The report chronicles the results of an ineffective, insufficient mental health system and foreshadows the consequences that would result if Governor Fletcher’s plans to restrict access for Kentucky’s citizens even further are implemented.

"The report serves to launch the Campaign for the Mind of America in Kentucky, promoting smart choices with the broadest benefits-—the greater awareness of the cost of untreated mental illness."

All of this on the heels of today's revelation in the New York Times that NAMI has gotten almost $23 million from pharma companies in recent years.

It's time for a house cleaning at NAMI.