Senators Question Cardiologists’ Ties to Stent Makers

Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, and Herb Kohl, Democrat of Wisconsin, have sent letters to Columbia University and the Cardiovascular Research Foundation to question financial ties between high profile doctors and device and drug institutions.

Dr. Martin B. Leon, founder and former chairman of CRF, a nonprofit group and Dr. Gregg W. Stone, its current chairman, both stent specialists affiliated with Columbia, are among the doctors listed by name in the letter. The letters have also questioned ties to a few companies which include Abbott, Medtronic, Boston Scientific and Johnson & Johnson, the four shops that sell stents in the U.S.

The foundation receives funding from device makers, among other sources, and conducts research and it’s most recent tax filing listed its revenue in 2005 to be $ 47.2 million. In a statement the foundation said “CRF welcomes the inquiry from Senators Kohl and Grassley and intends to comply fully with their request for information.” It went on to say, “C.R.F. 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.”

In a statement issued by Columbia University Medical Center it said it would respond to the request for information. “It is important to note that Columbia University and its Medical Center have conflict of interest policies and procedures in place, and we expect that they are followed by all members of the faculty," the statement said.

The letter to the CRF asked the group to disclose all financing it had received since 2003 from the five device manufacturers named in the letter and also to provide documentation of any payments and benefits the foundation had provided to 22 researchers including Dr. Stone, Dr. Leon and Dr. Moses. Kohl and Grassley have also written directly to drug and device makers asking them about their payments to doctors.

Grassley and Kohl back a bill that would require drug and device makers to report payments to doctors and earlier this month they sent a letter to Emory questioning payment of more than $500,000 to a high profile psychiatrist from GlaxoSmithKline over a few years when he reported receiving payments of less than $10,000 per year from the company.