Nemeroff's 'Dear Me' Ltr To Himself, Paying Himself $3,000 For Effexor Article

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http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/12/18/dear-me-nemeroff-wrote-himself-about-payment-for-effexor-article/

December 18, 2008, 11:58 am

‘Dear Me,’ Nemeroff Wrote Himself About Payment for Effexor Article

Posted by Armstrong

We’ve heard of Dear Doctor letters before, but a “Dear Me” letter? That’s a new one on us.

But we’ve now learned that Emory University psychiatrist Nemeroff penned just such a thing in 2000 when he was also serving as editor in chief of the journal Depression and Anxiety. The “Dear Me” letter, on the journal’s letterhead, indicated he was paying himself $3,000 to write an article for a special supplement of the medical journal that would “celebrate the 5th anniversary of the introduction of Effexor” –- an antidepressant from Wyeth.

According to Sen. Grassley (R., Iowa) , who has been investigating drug company payments to a bunch of academic psychiatrists, Nemeroff also billed an Emory account $3,000 for the work. The money Emory used to pay him came from a grant Wyeth gave to the school, according to Grassley.

It isn’t clear, however, from the correspondence if Nemeroff was paid by the both the school account and the medical journal. According to Emory, 14 of its faculty members each received $3,000 from that fund to pen articles for the special section on Effexor. Calls to Emory and Nemeroff for comment weren’t returned immediately. (See the “Dear Me” letter and associated documents from the Grassley investigation by clicking on the PDF icon. http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/Grassley_Letter_to_NIH_on_Emory-pt2.pdf )

In an overview published in the supplement, Nemeroff writes that “it is my hope that this volume will communicate to clinicians in both academia and in the community the enthusiasm that the authors have for this dual reuptake inhibitor.” Effexor modifies levels of serotonin and norepinephrine.

Furthermore, Grassley says nowhere in that tribute to the drug was it disclosed that the authors were paid out of an account funded by Wyeth. In his request for payment from Emory, Nemeroff said he was also requesting $1,500 to pay a co-author, Emory colleague Kerry Ressler.

Ressler later came to Nemeroff’s defense in 2006 after the WSJ reported that Nemeroff wrote a favorable review of a new device for treating depression that didn’t disclose his financial ties to the device’s maker. Nemeroff subsequently stepped down as editor of the journal that published that study.

Ressler was one of four dozen colleagues of Nemeroff who signed a letter to editor of the Wall Street Journal defending the psychiatrist’s reputation.

For more on Nemeroff and Emory, see this post on the doctor’s relationship with GlaxoKline, maker of Paxil.