INTRODUCTION
This policy governing financial conflict of interest applies to all HHS-sponsored Investigators of Phoenicia Bioscience, Inc. (“Company”). The Company Official is responsible for ensuring implementation of this policy and may suspend all relevant activities until the financial conflict of interest is resolved or other action deemed appropriate by the Company official is implemented. Violation of any part of these policies may also constitute cause for disciplinary or other administrative action pursuant to Company policy.
DEFINITIONS
Clinical Trial means any HHS-sponsored research study that involves interaction with human subjects and the concurrent investigative use of drugs, biologics, devices or medical or other clinical procedures, such as surgery.
Conflict of Interest Individual (COI Individual) means the individual who advises the Company Official on conflict of interest matters. The COI Individual is Tiffany Hubbard.
Family means any member of the Investigator’s immediate family, specifically, any dependent children and spouse.
Financial Interest means anything of monetary value received or held by an Investigator or an Investigator’s Family, whether or not the value is readily ascertainable, including, but not limited to: salary or other payments for services (e.g., consulting fees, honoraria, or paid authorships for other than scholarly works); any equity interests (e.g., stocks, stock options, or other ownership interests); and intellectual property rights and interests (e.g., patents, trademarks, service marks, and copyrights), upon receipt of royalties or other income related to such intellectual property rights and interests.
Financial Interest does NOT include:
For Investigators, Financial Interest also includes any reimbursed or sponsored travel undertaken by the Investigator and related to his/her company responsibilities. This includes travel that is paid on behalf of the Investigator as well as travel that is reimbursed, even if the exact monetary value is not readily available. It excludes travel reimbursed or sponsored by U.S. Federal, state or local governmental agencies, U.S. institutions of higher education, research institutes affiliated with institutions of higher education, academic teaching hospitals, and medical centers.
Significant Financial Interest means a Financial Interest that reasonably appears to be related to the Investigator’s Company Responsibilities, and:
Financial Conflict of Interest means a Significant Financial Interest (or, where the Company official requires disclosure of other Financial Interests, a Financial Interest) that the Institution reasonably determines could directly and significantly affect the design, conduct or reporting of HHS-sponsored research.
Company official means the individual within the Company that is responsible for the solicitation and review of disclosures of significant financial interests including those of the Investigator’s Family related to the Investigator’s Company responsibilities. For the purposes of this policy, the Company Official is designated as David Kelston.
Company responsibilities means the Investigator’s professional responsibilities associated with his or her Company appointment or position, such as research, teaching, clinical activities, administration, and Company, internal and external professional committee service.
Investigator means any individual who is responsible for the design, conduct, or reporting of HHS sponsored research, or proposals for such funding. This definition is not limited to those titled or budgeted as principal investigator or co-investigator on a particular proposal, and may include postdoctoral associates, senior scientists, or graduate students. The definition may also include collaborators or consultants as appropriate.
Health and Human Services or HHS means the Public Health Service of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and any components of the HHS to which the authority of the HHS may be delegated. The components of the HHS include, but are not limited to, the Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Aging, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Federal Occupational Health, Food and Drug Administration, Health Resources and Services Administration, Indian Health Service, National Institutes of Health, and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Research means a systematic investigation, study, or experiment designed to contribute to generalizable knowledge relating broadly to public health, including behavioral and social-sciences research. The term encompasses basic and applied research (e.g., a published article, book or book chapter) and product development (e.g., a diagnostic test or drug).
CONFLICT OF INTEREST:
This policy is predicated on the expectation that Investigators should conduct their affairs so as to avoid or minimize conflicts of interest, and must respond appropriately when conflicts of interest arise. To that end, this policy informs Investigators about situations that generate conflicts of interest related to research, provides mechanisms for Investigators and the Institution to manage those conflicts of interest that arise, and describes situations that are prohibited. Every Investigator has an obligation to become familiar with, and abide by, the provisions of this policy. If a situation raising questions of conflict of interest arises, an Investigator should discuss the situation with the Company official.
1) DISCLOSURE OF FINANCIAL INTERESTS
All Investigators are required to disclose their outside financial interests as defined above to the Institution on an annual and on an ad hoc basis, as described below. The Company official is responsible for the distribution, receipt, processing, review and retention of disclosure forms.
a) Annual Disclosures
All Investigators must disclose their Significant Financial Interests that are related to the investigator’s company responsibilities to the Company, through the Company Official, on an annual basis. All forms should be submitted to the Company official or designee by May 31st
b) Ad hoc Disclosures
In addition to annual disclosure, certain situations require ad hoc disclosure. All Investigators must disclose their Significant Financial Interests to the Institution, through the Company Official, within 30 days of their initial appointment or employment. Prior to entering into HHS-sponsored projects or applications for HHS-sponsored projects, where the Investigator has a Significant Financial Interest, the Investigator must affirm the currency of the annual disclosure or submit to the Company Official an ad hoc updated disclosure of his or her Significant Financial Interests with the outside entity. The Institution will not submit a research proposal unless the Investigator(s) have submitted such ad hoc disclosures. In addition, all Investigators must submit to the Company official an ad hoc disclosure of any Significant Financial Interest they acquire or discover during the course of the year within thirty (30) days of discovering or acquiring the Significant Financial Interest.
c) Travel
Investigators must also disclose reimbursed or sponsored travel related to their company responsibilities, as defined above in the definition of Financial Interest and Significant Financial Interest. Such disclosures must include, at a minimum, the purpose of the trip, the identity of the sponsor/organizer, the destination, the duration, and, if known, the monetary value. The Company Official will determine if additional information is needed (e.g., the monetary value if not already disclosed) to determine whether the travel constitutes a Financial Conflict of Interest with the Investigator’s research.
2) REVIEW AND DECISION OF THE COMPANY OFFICIAL
If the disclosure form reveals a Significant Financial Interest, it will be reviewed promptly by the Company Official or designee for a determination of whether it constitutes a Financial Conflict of Interest. If a Financial Conflict of Interest exists, the Company Official will take action to manage the financial conflict of interest including the reduction or elimination of the conflict, as appropriate.
A Financial Conflict of Interest will exist when the Company Official or designee determines that a Significant Financial Interest could directly and significantly affect the design, conduct, or reporting of HHS-sponsored research. If the Company Official determines that there is a Financial Conflict of Interest that can be managed, he or she must develop and implement a written management plan. The affected Investigator must formally agree to the proposed management strategies and sign the written management plan before any related HHS-sponsored research goes forward.
The Company Official will periodically review the ongoing activity, monitor the conduct of the activity (including use of students and postdoctoral appointees), to ensure open and timely dissemination of the research results, and to otherwise oversee compliance with the management plan.
3) REPORTING TO HHS
The Company official will report financial conflicts of interest or non-compliance to HHS in accordance with HHS regulations. If the funding for the Research is made available from a prime HHS-awardee, such reports shall be made to the prime awardee prior to the expenditure of any funds and within 60 days of any subsequently identified financial conflict of interest such that the prime awardee may fulfill their reporting obligations to the HHS.
4) INVESTIGATOR NON-COMPLIANCE
a) Disciplinary Action
In the event of an Investigator’s failure to comply with this Policy, the Company official may suspend all relevant activities or take other disciplinary action until the matter is resolved or other action deemed appropriate by the Company official is implemented.
A Company Official’s decision to impose sanctions on an Investigator because of failure to comply with this Policy, or failure to comply with the decision of the Company official, will be described in a written explanation of the decision to the investigator and, where applicable, the IRB, and will notify the individual of the right to appeal the decision. The institution will promptly notify the HHS Awarding Component of the action taken or to be taken. If the funding for the research is made available from a prime HHS awardee, such notification shall be made promptly to the prime awardee for reporting to HHS.
b) Retrospective Review
In addition, if the Company Official determines that a Financial Conflict of Interest was not identified or managed in a timely manner, including but not limited to an Investigator’s failure to disclose a Significant Financial Interest that is determined to be a Financial Conflict of Interest, or failure by an Investigator to materially comply with a management plan for a Financial Conflict of Interest, the Company Official will complete a retrospective review of the Investigator’s activities and the HHS-sponsored research project to determine whether the research conducted during the period of non-compliance was biased in the design, conduct or reporting of the research.
Documentation of the retrospective review shall include the project number, project title, PI, name of Investigator with the Financial Conflict of Interest, name of the entity with which the Investigator has the Financial Conflict of Interest, reason(s) for the retrospective review, detailed methodology used for the retrospective review, and findings and conclusions of the review.
The Company official will update any previously submitted report to the HHS or the prime HHS-awardee relating to the research, specifying the actions that will be taken to manage the Financial Conflict of Interest going forward. This retrospective review will be completed in the manner and within the time frame established in HHS regulations. If bias is found, the institution will promptly notify the HHS Awarding Component and submit a mitigation report in accordance with the HHS regulations. The mitigation report will identify elements documented in the retrospective review, a description of the impact of the bias on the research project and the plan of action to eliminate or mitigate the effect of the bias.
5) TRAINING
Each Investigator must complete training on this Policy, the investigator’s responsibilities regarding disclosure and the HHS regulations prior to engaging in research funded by HHS, and at least every four years thereafter. They must also complete training within a reasonable period of time as determined by the Company Official in the event that this Policy is substantively amended in a manner that affects the requirements of Investigators, if the investigator is new to the institution, or if it is determined that the Investigator has not complied with this policy or with a management plan related to their activities.
6) RECORD RETENTION
The Company Official will retain all disclosure forms, conflict management plans, and related documents for a period of three years from the date the final expenditure report is submitted to the HHS or to the prime HHS awardee, unless any litigation, claim, financial management review, or audit is started before the expiration of the three-year period, the records shall be retained until all litigation, claims or audit findings involving the records have been resolved and final action taken.
7) CONFIDENTIALITY
To the extent permitted by law, all disclosure forms, conflict management plans, and related information will be confidential. However, the Institution may be required to make such information available to the HHS Awarding Component and/or HHS, to a requestor of information concerning financial conflict of interest related to HHS funding or to the primary entity who made the funding available to the Institution, if requested or required. If the Institution is requested to provide disclosure forms, conflict management plans, and related information to an outside entity, the Investigator will be informed of this disclosure.
8) PUBLIC ACCESSIBILITY
Prior to the expenditure of funds, the Company will publish on a publicly-accessible website or respond to any requestor within five business days of the request, information concerning any Significant Financial Interest that meets the following criteria:
a) The Significant Financial Interest was disclosed and is still held by the senior and key personnel;
b) A determination has been made that the Significant Financial Interest is related to the HHS-funded research; and
c) A determination has been made that the Significant Financial Interest is a Financial Conflict of Interest.
The information to be made available shall be consistent with the requirements of the HHS regulation.
9) REGULATORY AUTHORITY
This policy implements the requirements of 42 CFR 50 Subpart F and 45 CFR 94; where there are substantive differences between this policy and the requirements, the requirements shall take precedence.
