Emory University has disciplined a prominent psychiatrist who was being paid by an antidepressant maker at the same time he was conducting federal research about the use of such drugs in pregnant women. The university said its medical school dean issued a letter of reprimand on April 30 to psychiatrist Zachary Stowe related to his "external relationships." Dr. Stowe was instructed to immediately eliminate conflicts related to current federal grants and was barred from having any conflicts for the next two years.
Dr. Stowe, the director of the Women’s Mental Health Program at Emory, is considered a leading expert on the use of antidepressants in pregnant women. He is listed as the primary investigator on at least three National Institutes of Health grants, beginning in 2003 and continuing through last year, that involve antidepressant use in pregnant women and the effects on children delivered by those women…
In a letter earlier this month to Emory, Sen. Charles Grassley (R., Iowa) said he learned the school had informed the NIH last summer that Dr. Stowe had financial conflicts of interest. The senator said records he obtained from GlaxoSmithKline PLC, the maker of the antidepressant Paxil, indicated Dr. Stowe was paid $154,400 by the drug company in 2007 and $99,300 during the first 10 months of 2008. The totals included payments for at least 95 promotional talks on behalf of the company. A Glaxo spokesman was unavailable for immediate comment.
Dr. Stowe is the second Emory psychiatrist to run into problems related to his work with the drug industry. Charles Nemeroff stepped down as chairman of the psychiatry department last year after an Emory investigation concluded that he failed to report more than $800,000 he received from Glaxo from 2000 to 2006. That matter is now being probed by the inspector general for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Dr. Nemeroff remains on the Emory faculty. Last December, he said in a statement that he acted "in good faith to comply with the rules as I understood them to be in effect at the time."
Emory U. Penalizes Another Psychiatrist With Hidden Financial Conflicts of Interest
Chonicle of Higher Education
June 10, 2009
… Emory’s School of Medicine last week issued another updated policy on financial conflicts of interest. The new policy bans Emory faculty and staff members, students, and trainees from receiving any industry compensation for speaking engagements; prohibits any receipt of gifts; allows industry representatives to enter Emory facilities for “necessary interactions” only; and further restricts the involvement of Emory faculty members in start-up companies.
As a woman on faculty, I have been offended by this pos since he arrived years ago. He has always given new meaning to MSP in the way he addressed his patients and female residents/colleagues. For him to be allowed to do research on Pregnant Women was unthinkable. Emory once again shows good judgment and consideration in their choices… I frankly can not think of a better person to get slapped, sorry it is only a couple of years.
[…] that I mentioned two Psychiatrists investigated by the Senate from my former Department at Emory, Dr. Zach Stowe and Dr. Charles Nemeroff for being in the pocket of drug companies. Guess which company? […]
[…] off I go to the Internet where I learn that Dr. Nemeroff and Dr. Stowe, in their promoting PAXIL for pay, not only gave numerous talks about the drug, but also published […]
[…] They published and presented that Paxil was a safe drug during pregnancy, and they were wrong. [see strike two…] Furthermore, they had no basis to make that recommendation [other than GSK’s drive to make Paxil […]
[…] [Senate Finance Committee] Update: From a a previous post about Nemeroff’s protege, Dr. Zach Stowe. As a former full time member of the Emory Departrment of Psychiatry, this report is pretty […]