University Boots Professor Over Novartis Ties

Two years ago, Damian Laber joined the University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine in Tulsa as a professor and chief of hematology, and he was tasked with building programs at its cancer center (

see this). But his stint is ending prematurely. Last week, the university reprimanded Laber for receiving more than 200 times the annual $100 limit from a company registered as a lobbying principal with the state.

Which company? Laber was accused of accepting $27,800 from Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, according to an Ethics Commission report (here it is). At least some of the money was for speaking fees during the fourth quarter of 2010; he joined the university in August 2010. And so, his employment contract is not being renewed. "His employment at the university will end no later than June 30," an OU spokeswoman tells the Associated Press. "The University of Oklahoma takes ethics guidelines very seriously, and it is the policy of the university to abide by all of those guidelines."

In his defense, Laber maintained he was unaware of the $100 annual limit that a state employee can receive from lobbyist principals, or companies that hire lobbyists and provide money to buy things of value to influence state employees and legislators, according to the discipline report released by the state Ethics Commission, the AP writes. He also insisted he was unaware of state ethics rules, and arrived from a state without similar restrictions. As a result, he merely continued his speaking obligations, which he added, began before moving to Oklahoma.

The Ethics Commission report notes that his conduct was not intentional and that Laber stopped making promotional speeches after he was told of the ethics issue. But as we know, ignorance of the law is not an excuse. We have contacted the state Ethics Commission for a copy of the report and will provide a link as soon as we are able.

7 Comments

Apr 30, 2012 - 9:21am
'knew or should have known', burn Laber, burn.

sadly, in this day and age, a sitting judge on the nation's highest court can claim he 'didn't understand' disclosure forms and get away with it.

It seems like this should have been discussed when he was hired especially since they knew he did speaking programs and he was from another state.
May 1, 2012 - 6:15pm
Good for Oklahoma. Now, if Harvard would just double down and give Biederman the heave ho (read all about him in Martha Rosenburg's new book "Junk Food Deficiency"....)

And of course Nemeroff needs to go. And and and...

May 1, 2012 - 7:59pm
Now we need to get rid of the engineering professors with ties to tech startups; the chemists & biologists with consulting arrangements with Monsanto and ADM; and, of course, the economics and B-school profs sitting on corporate boards or government committees.
May 1, 2012 - 8:51pm
Steve, those examples are not really analogous. The issue relates to a state employee doing "work on the side" for a company which lobbies the state for changes in law/policy which would financially benefit the company.

In this case, in particular, the good doctor with the relationship with Novartis may have an undue "preference" for using Novartis assays/diagnostics. This could be perceived as a problem.

A more apt call for dismissals would be against Air Force Generals who award contracts with certain suppliers who may employ their relatives, or who wish to employ the General (or Generals) after retirement.

There would not have seemed to be a problem if Novartis (a Swiss company) had kept their noses out of the Oklahoma State House, and let Oklahomans decide (without the benefit of wisdom from Basel) what laws and policies were useful to Oklahoma. I am not concerned that Dr. Laber may fail to land on his feet...

May 2, 2012 - 9:59pm
You have ties with Novartis you have ties with the devil himself. Once they get you they will use you but you'll be paid, above and even better and more under the table. They are artists in this and there are countless top specialist around the world who literally became rich by having "ties" with this Co. One cardio from Montreal built a mension in most exclusive part of the city just with payments for the "ties" he had with Novartis. Lately they'we been more careful with the "tools" they use to pay you. This because the co has been caught and exposed in many jurisdictions including USA. Thus they make sure that current "tools" for payoffs seem and almost are absolutely legit in content thus very hard to be seen as crooked. For this they have top lawyers who design these tools so if the doc has to "request" a grant for something (which is in fact a payoff for something) they are provided with copy of the letter of request they must send in as their own. Thus everything is covered and the payoff is done in perfectly legal way, at least on surface. Try to prove otherwise if you can. Was not always like this. Few years back in Canada the local Novartis affiliate came up with what was called Diovan investment fund. Under this program the key specialist were offered up to $25.000 if they agreed to Rx Diovan to the tune of 3-5 times of amount taken. The sales reps were required to secure "verbal agreemet/promise" from the doctor that this would be done. If so the doc got the money. Clear case of bribery that went on for good few months without any problem till someone blew the whistle to Basel so they ordered it stopped not because they disagreed but because it was exposed as bribery scheme by someone with evidence. As result of this the rules of miscinduct were tightened and went further underground. Now you must be a legal and code braking genious to decipher the current schemes. That is how things work in bigpharma.
May 3, 2012 - 12:39pm
@basel - Novartis is under a Corporate Integrity Agreement in the USA, but I think you are correct in observing that all that really means is that new schemes will emerge.

Seems like the focus for a decade at Novartis was on politics, not science, and, like J&J, manufacturing and pipelines went downhill, fast...

No longer do the locals consider a big pharma in their backyard to be a good neighbor....for a whole slew of reasons....