It has been reported that a senior researcher at the U.S. National Institutes of Health has possibly profited by as much $285,000 from the sale of human tissue samples collected from the public for research.
According to investigators the transfer of the samples to the drug giant Pfizer would not have received approval and the issue raises questions about a lack of supervision at the agency and a violation of the agency's ethics.
It seems Dr. Trey Sunderland, an Alzheimer's disease expert at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has received $517,000 since 1999 in consulting fees or expense reimbursements from Pfizer without any record of agency approval for the payments.
Apparently Dr.Sunderland's behaviour has been questioned before this incident and now the House Energy and Commerce Committee want to know exactly how much of the $517,000 paid by Pfizer was for giving the company access to spinal fluid and plasma samples in connection with Pfizer's work on an Alzheimer's drug.
The figure of $285,000 is being suggested was personally pocketed by Sunderland for the samples.
The transfer of tissue samples was apparently done under a 1998 material transfer agreement between the NIMH and Pfizer.
Dr. Sunderland is chief of the geriatric psychiatry branch at the NIMH, and NIH scientists are not permitted by law to engage in outside employment with pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology companies in their private capacities.