A vice president at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is giving $1.4 million he made from representing the institute on a biotech startup board to the institute, the New York Times and ProPublica report. The move comes as the cancer center re-evaluates its conflict of interest policies following a report from the Times and ProPublica about José Baselga, the former chief medical officer there, failing to disclose industry payments he received to journals and conferences, which led him to resign.
The VP, Gregory Raskin, works in technology transfer at the cancer center and helped shepherd its deal with the start-up Y-mAbs Therapeutics, the Times and ProPublica say. As part of his spot in the company's board, Raskin received stock options and additionally purchased shares at a reduced price, they add, noting that the value of these shares rose last month when the company went public.
An MSKCC spokesperson tells the Times and ProPublica that Raskin informed it of his ties to the company, and told them about the situation when mAbs went public last month — the day after the Times and ProPublica's report on Baselga. MSKCC also said it was changing its policy so employees in such positions cannot personally profit.