According to a new report, the NIH and the federal agency’s scientists received at least $350 million in royalties from third-party groups over the last decade.
The investigation, conducted by Open the Books, found that the third-party groups are mostly pharmaceutical companies that credit NIH scientists as co-inventors on various patents.
"Because those payments enrich the agency and its scientists, each and every royalty payment could be a potential conflict of interest and needs disclosure," Adam Andrzejewski, founder of OpentheBooks.com and the report's author, said.
Between roughly 2010 and 2015, the NIH disclosed 22,100 royalty payments that totaled nearly $134 million paid to the government agency and around 1,700 of its scientists.
The agency disclosed the amount after Open the Books sued in federal court for access to the information, Just the News reports.
Open the Books is still waiting for documents that will cover the 2015-2020 period.
The documents they already have reveal that Dr. Fauci received 23 royalty payments, in addition to taking a 2021 taxpayer-funded salary of more than $450,000. Former NIH Director Francis Collins also received 14 payments.
