Medtronic Paid University Researcher $19 Million For Development of Spinal Products
Already facing heat for its Medtronic lead and defibrillator injury scandals, the medical device major now faces new issues. An eminent researcher and spine surgeon at the University of Wisconsin admitted that he received payments from the company to the tune of $19 million to develop and promote the Infuse Bone Graft, among other things.
The researcher, Thomas Zdeblick, received payments over a 5 year period and, according to the Wall Street Journal, the payments were made to help in the development and promotion of spinal products, including the Infuse Bone Graft. These facts were revealed in a letter written by Senator Charles Grassley to the University, as part of his investigation in the conflict of interest arising from pharmaceutical companies' payments to doctors. The University of Wisconsin policies require doctors to reveal payments of up to $20,000, but does not require specification of payments beyond $20,000. The University policies on this matter are in line with the policies enforced by other universities and medical research centers. The University admitted that its medical disclosure requirements are inadequate and officials said they will be changing the rules to require doctors to specify exact payment amounts received from companies.
Technically, there is nothing wrong with Zdeblick's failure to reveal the $19 million he received over the years. Zdeblick claims that he disclosed his financial relations with Medtronic to his patients and always has. However, this is Medtronic we are talking about, a company that has recently come under suspicion of encouraging off-label use, which is illegal. Just a few weeks ago, the family of a California woman who died after Infuse was inserted in her neck against FDA approved uses, filed a medical injury lawsuit against Medtronic for pressuring the doctor to use the bone growth product in an unapproved manner. The nexus between pharmaceutical companies and medical researchers is well known. However, it has increasingly been scrutinized by lawmakers and medical injury lawyers who would like to see scientists and researchers given more independence from the influence of pharmaceutical companies.
There are several ways in which a monetary relationship between a researcher and a drug company can impact the safety of medical products. First, there is always the risk of drugs and devices being pushed for approval simply for financial gain. A conflict of interest also exists when a doctor is paid by a company for developing a product and then goes on to promote the same product to patients; no one can argue that there is bias in a situation like this. The only party that suffers when unethical things like this happen are the patients injured by defective products and drugs and their families.
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