Outside Ties of Nonprofit Leader Under Scrutiny

The head of one of the world’s biggest nonprofit biomedical laboratories may have too many conflicts of interest through his role as a consultant or a board member of companies and nonprofit groups, reports the St. Petersburg Times.

Richard Lerner leads the Scripps Research Institute in Fla., which received 74 percent of its revenue in 2005 from government grants totaling $382-million.

“Here’s the rub.; says the newspaper. “Most of Scripps’ money comes from the taxpayers. Yet Lerner has so many commitments beyond his job at Scripps — and stands to collect so much additional income from them — that critics question whether taxpayers get a full share of his attention, and a fair share of the profits from his scientific achievements.”

Sidney Wolfe, director of the health research group of Public Citizen, a consumer watchdog organization, told the newspaper “there’s nothing illegal” about Mr. Lerner’s commitments, “but I think it’s a conflict of interest.”

Mr. Lerner says he spent “far less” than 10 percent of his time on commercial activities last year and that his outside business interests have no bearing on his duties at Scripps.

The article notes that a Scripps branch in Palm Beach County bought a $9.75-million machine from a drug company named Kalypsys using government money. Mr. Lerner was on the company’s scientific advisory board and held 175,000 shares of its stock.

A board member of Scripps raised questions about the transaction, but the organization and a state oversight board said the deal was acceptable.

Sheldon Krimsky, a Tufts University professor, says scientists who are often involved with for-profit companies run the risk of lessening their credibility. He said, “The greatest danger in scientists’ wearing two hats is that the public will lose confidence in them as independent, disinterested experts guiding public policy toward good medical practices and safe products.”