NIH Employees Banned From Most Forms of Collaboration With Industry

The NIH has announced a new supplemental ethics regulation that essentially bans its employees from collaborating with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

The final regulation builds upon previously announced ethics policies that were drafted in response to mounting concerns about the outside consulting activities of some NIH employees.

The new regulation prohibits all NIH employees from performing compensated or uncompensated consulting services, and compensated teaching, speaking, writing or editing services for the following groups:

Substantially affected organizations (defined to include biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device companies, and other entities with similar interests);

Hospitals, clinics, HMOs or other healthcare providers;

Health insurers;

Health, science or health research-related trade organizations, professional associations, or consumer or advocacy groups; and

Educational institutions or nonprofit independent research institutes that currently are or recently were NIH funding applicants, grantees or contractors.

In addition to the above restrictions, NIH employees are prohibited from engaging in self-employment activities that involve the sale or promotion of the services or products of the named groups.

For more information about the NIH ethics regulation, go to http://www.nih.gov/about/ethics_COI.htm (http://www.nih.gov/about/ethics_COI.htm).