Lab rat supplier to settle
A leading supplier of laboratory mice and rats will pay the federal government $7.2 million after the Indiana-based company admitted to providing genetically defective rodents to the nation’s top research institution and submitting false information that hid the problem.
The settlement announced Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Maryland marks at least the third time in the last decade that Harlan, Sprague, Dawley, Inc. of Indianapolis has had to pay costs or damages for research compromised by genetic deficiencies in its widely used rats and mice.
In 1997 and 1998, Harlan signed contracts totaling more than $14.1 million with the Bethesda-based National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health. Under the contracts, the company was supposed to breed and cultivate genetic-specific rodent colonies over a nine-year period for use in aging research. One type of mouse used in the research ranges in price from $7.90 to $99.90 a piece, according to a pricing chart on Harlan’s Web site.
When the problem with Harlan rodents was first uncovered by researchers in 2002, the National Institute on Aging sent out warning letters to at least 175 scientists, according to Maryland Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael A. DiPietro, who worked on the case. The letter cautioned that rats and mice from Harlan might be unreliable and a threat to ongoing studies using the animals.
Harlan officials would not answer questions Tuesday but acknowledged in settlement terms that the company tested some of the animals and discovered genetic inconsistencies as far back as 1999 – but company employees failed to report those defects to the NIA.
The National Institute on Aging conducts and funds research on a wide range of subjects, including the biology of aging and age-related diseases. An NIA spokesman said Tuesday the agency could not respond to specific questions about the impact of the mouse and rat contamination on research or the steps the agency took to address the problem.
Federal prosecutors estimated that thousands of rodents could have been affected, but they believe only a small percentage of those rodents would have actually been defective. DiPietro added that as many as 250 researchers may have been affected, but he declined to say whether studies relying on the rodents needed to be shut down.