Senate probes TCT over fiscal ties to industry
Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Herb Kohl, D-Wis., have requested that the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF), which sponsors Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT), and Columbia University, reveal how medical devicemakers have promoted their products throughout the symposium’s sessions.
The senators sent letters to Gregg W. Stone, MD, of Columbia, who is chairman of CRF, and Lee Bollinger, the president of Columbia University, requesting financial disclosures of 21 physicians affiliated with the university and CRF.
“The inquiry responds to information about the Cardiovascular Research Foundation's support for an annual conference promoting cardiac devices and techniques and additional financial relationships between professors of medicine and cardiac devices companies featured at this conference,” the senators wrote.
In response to the inquiry, CRF said it “welcomes the inquiry from Senators Kohl and Grassley and intends to comply fully with their request for information about CRF’s research and educational activities and funding sources.”
The senators have asked for a detailed breakdown of information on all outside income for all 21 CRF investigators, including Martin Leon, MD, co-director of TCT. They also asked for detailed information on any money received by Columbia from Abbott, Medtronic, Medinol, Boston Scientific, Johnson & Johnson and CRF. The nature of the relationship between Columbia and CRF is also questioned in the letters.
The inquiry falls quickly on the heels of a similar letter that Kohl sent to the American College of Cardiology (ACC) last month, requesting information about ACC’s five-year partnership with the CRF. At the time, ACC CEO Jack Lewin, MD, and Douglas Weaver, MD, ACC CEO and president, told Cardiovascular Business News that they believed that ACC’s response had satisfied the Senate Committee’s probe.
CRF asserted that it “is committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity in all of its research and educational activities and ensuring independence, objectivity and scientific rigor in all of its programs.”
The senators sent letters to Gregg W. Stone, MD, of Columbia, who is chairman of CRF, and Lee Bollinger, the president of Columbia University, requesting financial disclosures of 21 physicians affiliated with the university and CRF.
“The inquiry responds to information about the Cardiovascular Research Foundation's support for an annual conference promoting cardiac devices and techniques and additional financial relationships between professors of medicine and cardiac devices companies featured at this conference,” the senators wrote.
In response to the inquiry, CRF said it “welcomes the inquiry from Senators Kohl and Grassley and intends to comply fully with their request for information about CRF’s research and educational activities and funding sources.”
The senators have asked for a detailed breakdown of information on all outside income for all 21 CRF investigators, including Martin Leon, MD, co-director of TCT. They also asked for detailed information on any money received by Columbia from Abbott, Medtronic, Medinol, Boston Scientific, Johnson & Johnson and CRF. The nature of the relationship between Columbia and CRF is also questioned in the letters.
The inquiry falls quickly on the heels of a similar letter that Kohl sent to the American College of Cardiology (ACC) last month, requesting information about ACC’s five-year partnership with the CRF. At the time, ACC CEO Jack Lewin, MD, and Douglas Weaver, MD, ACC CEO and president, told Cardiovascular Business News that they believed that ACC’s response had satisfied the Senate Committee’s probe.
CRF asserted that it “is committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity in all of its research and educational activities and ensuring independence, objectivity and scientific rigor in all of its programs.”