Fcoi Policy

Purpose of Policy – Objective research is of paramount importance to Fannin Partners, LLC (the “Company”) and our subgrantees and defined vendors herein, to ensure public trust and meet scientific, program and ethical goals of our National Institutes Health (NIH) grant efforts. To address the increasing complexities related to financial interests held by biomedical and behavioral researchers, the Public Health Service (PHS) and the Office of the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has published their final rules. The Company believes we have fully addressed the requirements (including those of our defined sub-level vendors) of this ruling although we will continue to update this policy as needed, particularly related to any changes in personnel FCOI issues or upon further HHS guidance.

Implementation of Policy – The Company’s policy requires that each investigator, subrecipient, subgrantee and collaborator affiliated with the Company, by NIH or any other applicable grant or contract, be in compliance with 42 CFR Part 50, Subpart F for PHS grants and cooperative agreements (and 45 CFR Part 94 for contracts). In addition, this legislation spells out NIH’s commitment to preserving the public’s trust that the research supported by them is conducted without bias and with the highest scientific and ethical standards. Company intends to use this same FCOI standard for all other Federal agency grant and contract efforts, as tailored or amended accordingly.

Key Definitions – The following are key term definitions and Company’s policy guidance for principal or program investigators, subrecipients, subgrantees and collaborators affiliated with Company. This policy and all FCOI Company guidance are also available at https://fannininnovation.com/FCOI/ or for Company employees in the Company’s electronic policy folders so that all interested parties, including the general public, have access to this Company policy.

Investigator – An Investigator is any person (including subrecipients, subgrantees and collaborators) who is responsible for the design, conduct, or reporting of research funded by PHS.

Training Requirement – The Company and all defined sub-level vendors are required to complete training related to FCOI.  If any conflicts of interest are found or known, they must be disclosed. The training must be updated no less than every four years or as designated based on grant or role circumstances. Information and other resources developed by NIH, including an FCOI tutorial, will be updated as appropriate and can be accessed through the NIH Web site: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/coi/tutorial2011/fcoi.htm.

Significant Financial Interest (SFI) – Significant Financial Interest is defined by the regulations as:

  1. A financial interest consisting of one or more of the following interests of the investigator (and those of the investigator’s spouse and dependent children) that reasonably appears to be related to the Investigators institutional responsibilities:

    • With regard to any publicly traded entity a significant financial interest exists if the value of any remuneration received from the entity in the twelve months preceding the disclosure and the value of any equity interest in the entity as of the date of disclosure, when aggregated exceeds $5,000. For the purposes of this definition, remuneration includes salary and any payment for services not otherwise identified as salary (e.g. consulting fees, honoraria, paid authorship); equity interest in stock, stock options or other ownership interest, as determined through reference to public prices and other reasonable measures of fair market value;

    • With regard to any non-publicly traded entity, a significant financial interest exists if the value of any remuneration received from the entity in the twelve months preceding the disclosure, when aggregated, exceeds $5,000, or when the Investigator (or the Investigator’s spouse or dependent children) holds any equity interests (e.g. stock, stock options, or other ownership interest); or

    • Intellectual property rights and interests (e.g. patents, copyrights), upon receipt of income related to such rights and interests.

  2. Investigators also must disclose the occurrence of any reimbursed or sponsored travel (i.e., that which is paid on behalf of the Investigator and not reimbursed to the Investigator so that the exact monetary value may not be readily available) related to their Company responsibilities; provided, however, that this disclosure requirement does not apply to travel that is reimbursed or sponsored by a federal, state or local government agency, an institution of higher education as defined at 20 U.S.C. 1001(a), an academic teaching hospital, medical center, or research institute that is affiliated with an institution of higher education.The disclosure must include, at a minimum, the purpose of the trip, the identity of the sponsor/organizer, the destination and the duration. In accordance with the Company’s FCOI policy, the Company official(s) will determine if further information is needed, including a determination or disclosure of monetary value, in order to determine whether the travel constitutes a FCOI with the PHS-funded research.

  3. The term Significant Financial Interest does not include the following types of financial interests:

    • salaries, royalties or other remuneration paid by the Company to the Investigator if the Investigator is currently employed or otherwise appointed by the Company, including intellectual property rights assigned to the Company and agreements to share in royalties related to such rights;

    • any ownership interest in the Company held by the investigator, if the Company is a commercial or for-profit organization;

    • income from investment vehicles, such as mutual funds and retirements accounts, as long as the Investigator does not directly control the investment decisions made in these vehicles;

    • income from seminars, lectures or teaching engagements sponsored by a federal, state or local government agency an institution of higher education as defined at 20 U.S.C. 1001(a), an academic teaching hospital, a medical center or a research institute that is affiliated with an institution of higher education; or

    • income from service on advisory committees or review panels for a federal, state or local government agency, an institution of higher education as defined at 20 U.S.C. 1001(a), an academic teaching hospital, a medical center or a research institute that is affiliated with an institution of higher education.

Financial Conflict of Interest (FCOI) – A financial conflict of interest exists when the Company reasonably determines that a Significant Financial Interest (defined above) could directly and significantly affect the design, conduct, or reporting of NIH-funded research (“Research”).

Management of a FCOI – Means taking action to address a FCOI, which may include reducing or eliminating the FCOI to ensure, to the extent possible, that the design, conduct, and reporting of Research will be free from bias.  Other components of the plan may include public disclosure, independent review, modifications of the Research plan or other steps as determined by the Company and its Policy Coordinator.

PHS Awarding Component – The PHS awarding component is any sub-agency of the PHS or HHS.

Disclosures/Reporting Process – The Company’s Policy Coordinator will review all “disclosures” and evaluate whether they contain any FCOI. If no FCOI is found, the “disclosure forms” will be filed in the SFI binder. If a FCOI is identified, it will be put on the FCOI report through the eRA Commons FCOI module prior to expending any funds, and the Company will undertake Management of a FCOI.  If any interests are identified as conflicting subsequent to the initial report, they must be reported to the Company within 30 days. The Company will then report it to the PHS Awarding Component that has issued the award within 60 days. Each Investigator must submit an updated disclosure of an SFI not less than annually.

Records Management – The records of all financial disclosures and all actions taken by the Company will be maintained for at least three years from the date of submission of the final expenditures report.

Research – PHS research is any project governed by PHS regulation, but excluding applications for Phase I support under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs.

Compliance and Penalties for Non-Performance – If an investigator fails to comply with the Company’s FCOI policy, within 120 days the Company shall complete a retrospective review of the Investigator’s activities to determine bias. If a bias is found, the Company shall submit a mitigation report to the NIH, in accordance with 42 CFR 50.605(b)(3), that shall address the impact of the bias on the Research project and the actions it has taken to mitigate the bias. The Company will work with the Investigator to set up a FCOI management plan to mitigate the situation. Companywide, the Company is required to mandate the Investigator disclose the FCOI in each public presentation with Research results if it was not reported up front. In extreme cases of bias, the Investigator may lose the right to work on the project or receive any future NIH funding.

Point of Contact – If you have a conflict of interest or if you have a question to discuss, contact the Company Policy Coordinator:

Michael W. Youtt
FCOI@fannininnovation.com