CASE STUDY #2: J-P PROSTHETICS

DESCRIPTION OF EXTERNAL RELATIONSHIP

Dr. Jordan holds more than a 5% equity interest in a company, J-P Prosthetics. She is also a Vice-President in the company, a consultant, and serves on the Board of Directors. Dr. Jordan will be the Principal Investigator on a grant funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and is scheduled to begin on April 1, 200X. The NCI funding is to research the design of prosthetic elbows.

Dr. Jordan and the University of Minnesota Office of Patents and Technology Marketing have entered into a license agreement specifying that any research related to the design of prosthetic elbows undertaken in Dr. Jordan’s lab may be used by J-P Prosthetics. The agreement also states that, for research undertaken at the University on specific projects related to company interests, the company has the right of first refusal.

Dr. Jordan’s University laboratory has support to employ a graduate student to work on research, the results of which may be the basis for commercial activities by J-P Prosthetics. J-P Prosthetics is not funding any of the research conducted by Dr. Jordan. This research is funded by NCI and the Department of Defense.

AREAS OF POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The Committee finds that Dr. Jordan has a financial and business interest in J-P Prosthetics which represents a potential conflict of interest under the following provisions of the Regents Policy:

1. An employee participating in clinical trials or evaluation or development of a technology, process, or product owned or controlled by a business in which the employee, an immediate family member or an associated entity has a financial or business interest.
2. An employee or immediate family member holding an executive position in a business engaged in commercial or research activities directly related to the employees University responsibilities.

Regents Policy on Financial or Business Conflict of Interest (June 8, 2001), art.5, sec. III, subds. 1(a) and 2 (b)

The Committee is supportive of the potential benefits to be gained by Dr. Jordan work and does not wish to see it marred by conflict claims that could arise internally or publicly.

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT PLAN

- Dr. Jordan will resign from her roles as Vice President and member of the Board of Directors of J-P Prosthetics. She will continue her role as Principal Investigator of the NCI grant and as a consultant for J-P Prosthetics.
- For any consulting undertaken, Dr. Jordan will provide a clear description of how her consulting duties differ from her University responsibilities, and will certify that she will comply with University requirements on the time limits for consulting. She will not use University resources, facilities, or services for consulting purposes without appropriate reimbursement to the University and prior written approval of the Department Head and Dean.
- Dr. Jordan will disclose to graduate student advisees that she has a financial interest in J-P Prosthetics, designate an appropriate University official whom the students can contact if they believe their research efforts are improperly directed toward commercial areas, and will assure that the majority of faculty on the students’ thesis committees have no financial or business interests in J-P Prosthetics.
- Dr. Jordan will update her REPA form at least every six months. She will cooperate with the University to make required disclosures to all current and prospective research sponsors of her financial interests and any consulting relationships with J-P Prosthetics.
- As required under the Regents Policy, art. 2, sec. II, subd, 7, regarding disclosure to external entities, Dr. Jordan will disclose her financial interests and any consulting relationships with J-P Prosthetics when submitting articles for publication or making public presentations about this research.
- Dr. Jordan’s research will be reviewed on a semi-annual basis by the existing Cell Biology departmental review committee. This committee should prepare a review focusing on the objectivity of the University research semi-annually. A copy of the semi-annual review should be forwarded to the Conflict Review Committee.

There is currently no corporate funding of the research conducted at the University. If funding or other relationships change, these relationships must be disclosed, and the management plan will be reviewed and revised as warranted.

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