Research Advocate

NIH Updates Conflict of Interest FAQ and Web-based Tutorial

2009-08-06T12:16:00.000-07:00

The National Institutes of Health has updated two resources provided on the NIH Office of Extramural Research Conflict of Interest web page: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/coi/index.htm:

Frequently Asked Questions - Financial Conflict of Interest (FCOI) Requirements for NIH-Supported Institutions, and
Web-based Tutorial on Financial Conflict of Interest (FCOI) Requirements for NIH-Supported Institutions (also available in PDF). The tutorial now includes the mandatory use of the eRA Commons FCOI Module for grantees submitting FCOI reports beginning July 1, 2009.

August 22, 2008 Research Advocate article: NIH Publishes Web-based Tutorial on Financial Conflict of Interest Requirements

Statement of Economic Interests (700-U) Form Revised

2009-01-08T16:41:00.000-08:00

The State of California has issued a revised 700-U Statement of Economic Interest for Principal Investigators for immediate use. The revised form is available on the COI Committee web site and is the only version that will now be accepted. If you have any questions please contact Jyl Baldwin (jbaldwin@berkeley.edu, 2-8117). Please note that there have been no substantive changes in the form, but the version dated 2008/2009 is the only one which is valid.

State of California law requires disclosure of financial interest in the sponsor of a research project; the donor of a research gift; and, under certain circumstances, the provider of materials under a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) when that sponsor, donor, or provider is a non-governmental source. For research projects, the Statement of Economic Interests for Principal Investigators (Form 700-U) should accompany the proposal and Proposal Review Form to the Sponsored Projects Office or to the Industry Alliances Office. For MTAs, the Form 700-U should accompany the Material Transfer Agreement Review Form to the Industry Alliances Office.

Reminder: COI Materials Due Ten Days Before Committee Meeting

2008-01-09T15:45:00.000-08:00

The faculty Conflict of Interest Committee meets monthly, except in August, to review all positive financial disclosures related to research gifts, grants, contracts, cooperative agreements, MTAs and human subjects protocols.

In order for a disclosure case to be placed on the agenda for any monthly meeting, all materials required for review must be received by Jyl Baldwin no later than ten working days prior to the published meeting date. Materials required for Committee review may include items requested specifically after initial review of positive financial disclosure packets, such as copies of consulting agreements.

The lead time of ten working days is critical for preparation and distribution of case materials to the members of the COI Committee.

Statement of Economic Interests (700-U) Form Revised

2008-01-08T14:00:00.000-08:00

The State of California has issued a revised 700-U Statement of Economic Interest for Principal Investigators for immediate use. The revised form is available on the COI Committee web site and is the only version that will now be accepted. If you have any questions please contact Jyl Baldwin (jbaldwin@berkeley.edu, 2-8117).

State of California law requires disclosure of financial interest in the sponsor of a research project; the donor of a research gift; and, under certain circumstances, the provider of materials under a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) when that sponsor, donor, or provider is a non-governmental source. For research projects, the Statement of Economic Interests for Principal Investigators (Form 700-U) should accompany the proposal and Proposal Review Form to the Sponsored Projects Office or to the Industry Alliances Office. For MTAs, the Form 700-U should accompany the Material Transfer Agreement Review Form to the Industry Alliances Office.

Online Conflict of Interest Briefing for Researchers

2007-05-17T12:18:00.000-07:00

In a May 16 Calmessages memo to deans, directors, and department chairs, Vice Chancellor for Research Beth Burnside announced a new online briefing program in conflict of interest designed for UC researchers. The text of the memo is included below.

On May 23rd, the University of California will launch an online Conflict of Interest Briefing for researchers at all UC locations.

The Briefing, which takes about 30 minutes to complete, is designed to help researchers recognize and deal with conflict of interest situations that may arise during their work. The new Conflict of Interest Briefing was developed by a UC team that included members of the faculty and research staffs from various campuses, headed by the UCOP Office of Research, with a vendor, Workplace Answers. Like the Ethics Briefing, which was rolled out to the campus in April, the Briefing can be taken on any computer with Internet access.

Not all Principal Investigators or those with research responsibilities will be required to take the Briefing. Researchers have been identified as those individuals in the various professorial
and research title series who received more than $1000 in salary from selected extramural funding sources over the past 12 months. On May 23rd, the selected Berkeley researchers will receive an email from coibriefing@berkeley.edu with a personalized link that will direct
them to the new Conflict of Interest Briefing.

As with the Ethics Briefing, individuals are encouraged to complete the Conflict of Interest Briefing soon after they receive the email notification. The Briefing will remain available to them for their reference throughout the year. Researchers are encouraged to bookmark the link/Briefing so that they may refer to it in the future.

Questions regarding the conflict of interest briefing may be directed to coibriefing@berkeley.edu.

NIH Publishes "Observations" from COI Site Reviews

2007-03-15T08:02:00.000-07:00

The National Institutes of Health Office of Extramural Research recently published its "Observations from NIH's FY 2006 Targeted Site Reviews on Financial Conflict of Interest" on the OER Conflict of Interest page at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/coi/index.htm. Berkeley's site review was conducted in April 2006.

The NIH site reviews focus specifically on compliance with the Financial Conflict of Interest regulation pertaining to NIH grants. NIH developed the observation document for use by the grantee community as a resource for evaluating implementation of the regulation. The document contains a discussion of compliance issues and suggestions for implementation.

For more information, see the campus Conflict of Interest Committee web site, http://researchcoi.berkeley.edu/, or contact Jyl Baldwin at jbaldwin@berkeley.edu.