Johns Hopkins Child Research Probed

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 10:54 p.m. ET

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Officials at an affiliate of Johns Hopkins University said Friday they have cooperated with federal regulators' requests for information on research conducted on children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Gary Goldstein, president and chief executive officer at Kennedy Krieger Institute, said the information was given to the Office for Human Research Protections on Oct. 31.

``The request was prompted by an anonymous letter received by the OHRP alleging inconsistencies with the testing process that preceded an alleged ADHD study,'' Goldstein said in a statement.

Bill Hall, a spokesman for the Office for Human Research Protections, would not discuss what aspect of the research the agency is investigating.

Hopkins spokeswoman Joann Rodgers said Friday the school is cooperating with the agency in the Kennedy Krieger probe.

The same federal agency, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this summer suspended almost all studies involving human subjects at Hopkins for five days. The action followed the death in June of a healthy 24-year-old volunteer in an asthma study.

Hall said Thursday that the investigation into the Kennedy Krieger study began Aug. 8 after the agency received an anonymous complaint. The OHRP has 117 open investigations nationwide, Hall said.

The anonymous letter, a copy of which was sent to The Associated Press, claims that children participating in the study were misdiagnosed, resulting in children without ADHD being treated for it, and those with the disorder going untreated.

The OHRP also is investigating a lead paint study conducted at Kennedy Krieger in the early 1990s. Lawsuits have been filed on behalf of two children who allegedly suffered elevated blood-lead levels and irreversible brain damage in that study.

^------

On the Net: The Kennedy Krieger Institute: http://www.kennedykrieger.org

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org

Office for Human Research Protections: http://ohrp.osophs.dhhs.gov

ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE.  THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.