NIH to Investigate Outreach to Alcohol Companies

The National Institutes of Health will examine whether health officials violated federal policy against soliciting donations when they met with alcohol companies to discuss funding a study of the benefits of moderate drinking, Dr. Francis Collins, the institutes’ director, said Tuesday.

Collins also will ask outside experts who are part of a standing advisory committee to review the design and scientific methodology of the 10-year government trial, which is already underway, an NIH spokeswoman said.

The announcement comes three days after The New York Times reported that scientists and officials with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, part of the NIH, met with industry groups on several occasions in 2013 and 2014.

Scientists suggested the proposed study might reflect favorably on moderate drinking, while institute officials pressed for funding, according to documents obtained by The Times.

“I believe the scientific goals of the Moderate Alcohol and Cardiovascular Health Trial are worth pursuing,” Collins said in a prepared statement, adding that several mechanisms are in place to ensure the integrity of the study.

But Collins said he was “concerned” about meetings scientists and officials had with beer and liquor company executives before the Foundation for the NIH, a nongovernmental foundation authorized to raise private money for research, became involved.

“While NIH officials and scientists routinely discuss and present information on proposed collaborations with outside scientists and other members of the public, NIH policy prohibits employees from soliciting donations of funds or other resources to the NIH or any of its components,” Collins said.

A memorandum of understanding signed by the foundation and the alcohol abuse institute in 2016 stipulated that health officials would not communicate directly with any donors to raise funds, or disclose to the donors the name of the scientist leading the study.

Though many observational studies have reported that people who drink moderately live longer and have less heart disease than those who don’t drink at all, the new study is the first large, long-term randomized clinical trial to test the hypothesis that moderate drinking prevents heart attacks and strokes, and perhaps also Type 2 diabetes and cognitive decline.

The trial, led by Dr. Kenneth J. Mukamal, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, aims to recruit 7,800 men and women at 16 sites around the world. Half will be told to abstain from alcohol, and half will be told to have one serving of alcohol a day, of any type they choose. The participants’ health will be tracked for six years on average.

Five large beer and liquor companies — Anheuser-Busch InBev, Heineken, Carlsberg, Diageo and Pernod Ricard — have pledged to contribute $67.7 million toward the $100 million cost of the study. They are channeling their donations through the Foundation for the NIH.