Its webpage on conflicts underscores why strong disclosure rules are important: “The institution should not be placed in a situation where others could reasonably question, and perhaps discount or dismiss, the work of the committee simply because of the existence of such conflicting interests.”
Yet conflict-of-interest experts interviewed by KHN said the national academies stands out by considering only “current” conflicts and not those going back three years, as is more typical. Korsen said the National Academy of Sciences is working toward requiring five years of disclosures.
Several experts said that, given the trust placed in — and $200 million in federal funding awarded to — the national academies, a number of conflicts should have been disclosed in the report.
They include those of Patel, who is described in her report biography as a Brookings Institution fellow, a primary care physician in Washington, D.C., and former Obama administration policy adviser.
The national academies declined to provide the conflict-of-interest form that Patel or any other member filled out at the outset of the committee’s work in early 2020.
Unrelated Securities and Exchange Commission records show that, before she joined the committee in 2020, Patel’s role as a board member for Tesaro, a developer of cancer medications, became very lucrative when GlaxoSmithKline bought the company. At the time of the 2019 sale, Patel was in line to receive an estimated $1.4 million for her shares and stock options, according to a December 2018 Tesaro securities filing.
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