Professor Zachary Stowe of Emory University wants his money, and he wants it now.
An enthusiastic salesman for Glaxo drugs, Stowe spends a great deal of time giving pitches to various audiences. He doesn’t just say things Glaxo wants to hear; he writes them.
“Dr. Stowe is on board for publicity efforts,” writes a public relations person to Glaxo about a press release. “We [want] to secure distribution [of research results] on Emory letterhead — as you know, [this will] provide further credibility to data for the media.” **** [see below]
Stowe loves the money; Glaxo loves the credibility Emory’s letterhead brings. A perfect relationship, undisclosed to Emory, of course…
Actually, not entirely perfect. Tension occasionally flares between the parties when one or another of Stowe’s promotional talks has to be canceled. Stowe’s policy when this happens is to demand payment in full anyway. He’s an important man. If he’d known the thing would be canceled, he could have made a lot of money at other sales events. He and his Emory letterhead are very much in demand.
Senator Grassley attaches to his latest letter to Emory about its enterprising psychiatry professors a series of emails Stowe wrote demanding payment for canceled events.
Email #1: What provisions do you propose for my compensation for the lost time? …. GSK… should cover the cost of the trip as well.
Email #2: I am willing to discuss… renumeration [sic] for a single talk ($2,500) rather than the two scheduled.
Email #3: [Same idea. Still no response.]
Email #4: Now that I have had to invest the time to find some resolution to this problem, I am no longer in a compromising mood. [Now you owe me] $4,500.
Email #5: I do not want to be a prick, but given the time and frustration, [you] should pay me for both talks.
——————-
**** Update: Just to clarify that press release on Stowe’s work up there:
The press release was written by a public relations firm hired by Glaxo.
Emory lent its reputation, not merely its letterhead, to a pr release.
Not only are its professors for sale. Emory’s for sale.
June 10th, 2009 at 8:57PM
Reminds me of the old joke about the money-hungry psychiatrist: If you are late, he starts without you.
My late uncle, a psychiatrist, told me this. Of course he actually did therapy, mostly with adolescents.
June 10th, 2009 at 10:14PM
[...] June 11 tags: GSK, I want my money, NIH Researcher On The Take, Zachary Stowe by Amy Philo From http://www.margaretsoltan.com/?p=13846 Zachary Stowe: I WANT MY [...]
June 10th, 2009 at 10:43PM
My goodness. In a moment of curiosity I read the pdf. I think the only word for him might indeed be "prick."
June 11th, 2009 at 2:06AM
Zachary Stowe went with the flow,
Tutored by Nemeroff, learned how to rip-off.
Did he mislead? What will he plead?
June 11th, 2009 at 8:18AM
With all of the negotiating and check cashing how do these guys ever find time to see patients?
June 11th, 2009 at 10:01AM
Patients? What are those?
June 11th, 2009 at 6:28PM
Writing a prescription takes less than 5 minutes.
November 25th, 2009 at 9:33AM
Try being one of his patients.
He is a prick. We know firsthand.
While he and the drug companies are having such a great time, people are being affected.