In a memo to faculty Thursday, Joseph Martin, dean of the faculty of medicine, canceled a June 1 meeting to discuss the proposed policy changes. Dr. Marcia Angell, editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, said she was delighted with the decision. Harvard researchers are prohibited from devoting more than 20 percent of their time to work outside of Harvard.
Restrictions also apply when they are receiving fees or royalties from a company.
The ethics policy, widely considered the toughest in the nation, covers about 8,000 faculty members in 17 affiliated institutions in the Boston area. A committee assembled by Martin in 1998 recommended months ago that Harvard medical faculty be able to own larger amounts of stock and receive higher consultant fees, and still do company-sponsored research. Researchers can have as much financial interest in a company as they want as long as that company does not pay for research in their lab, the school stressed. The business and the research must be kept separate, said Margaret Dale, an associate dean at the medical school who administers ethics rules. Martin's decision came one day after the University of Pennsylvania said it would re-evaluate its policy following the death of a young volunteer in a gene therapy experiment and questions about a researcher's ties to a private company.