Sunshine rules ensnare Emory department chair

Executive Summary

Charles Nemeroff is stepping down as chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine because of failure to report outside income from drug companies. An investigation by Emory found that during 2000-2005, Nemeroff failed to report more than $800,000 in income from GSK for more than 250 speaking engagements. Nemeroff says he believed his presentations to be educational lectures not subject to the school's disclosure requirements. The investigation, which focused on the GSK payments because the firm was the largest single payer to Nemeroff, has found no evidence the payments affected his care for clinical trial participants or biased his research. Nevertheless, Nemeroff, who will continue to teach at Emory, will be subject to new restrictions on his outside activities. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, brought attention to Nemeroff's activities as part of his campaign to shed light on drug companies' financial ties to doctors and researchers (1"The Pink Sheet," Sept. 22, 2008, In Brief)