The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is conducting an investigation into a top orthopedic surgeon and associate professor at its medical school for failing to disclose financial connections to several companies whose products he was researching. Dr. Jeffrey Wang lost his position as the co-executive director of the UCLA Comprehensive Spine Center for failing to report stock options, payments, and royalties he received from five medical device and drug companies between 2002 and 2008. While Wang is still on the school’s faculty, UCLA is investigating his work and considering further disciplinary action against him.

Dr. Wang failed to disclose ownership of stock options in Facet Solutions Inc. and Paradigm Spine LLC, and did not report royalties and consulting payments from Johnson & Johnson, FzioMed Inc., and Medtronic Inc., all of which manufacture products on which Dr. Wang was conducting research. Failing to report such financial relationships violates UCLA’s guidelines, and most medical schools have rules limiting how much money and gifts their doctors can receive from drug and device companies. The university is currently looking into whether the payments and stock interests impacted Wang’s research.

Medtronic has previously been scrutinized for allegedly having financial relationships with doctors conducting research on its products. The Department of Justice is currently investigating consulting payments made by the medical device company to Dr. Timothy Kuklo, a former Walter Reed Army Hospital surgeon who has been accused of falsifying the results of a study concerning Medtronic’s Infuse surgical grafts. As a result of incidents like those involving Wang and Kuklo, Senators Charles Grassley (R, Iowa) and Herb Kohl (D, Wisconsin) have proposed a federal law requiring companies to disclose all payments over $100 made to doctors. Information about abuses of University policy and illegal or improper kickbacks are often brought to light by whistleblowers. Read more about issues related to medical research, such as defective medical devices and medical malpractice.

Tags: fraud, medical research, Medtronic

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