The Secretary shall, acting through the Director of NIH, establish a nonprofit corporation to be known as the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (hereafter in this section referred to as the “Foundation”). The Foundation shall not be an agency or instrumentality of the United States Government.
The purpose of the Foundation shall be to support the National Institutes of Health in its mission (including collection of funds for pediatric pharmacologic research), and to advance collaboration with biomedical researchers from universities, industry, and nonprofit organizations.
The Foundation may assess fees for the provision of professional, administrative and management services by the Foundation in amounts determined reasonable and appropriate by the Executive Director.
The initial members of the Board shall serve as incorporators and shall take whatever actions necessary to incorporate the Foundation.
The Foundation shall be considered to be a corporation under section 501(c) of title 26, and shall be subject to the provisions of such section.
The Foundation shall have an Executive Director who shall be appointed by the Board and shall serve at the pleasure of the Board. The Executive Director shall be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Foundation and shall have such specific duties and responsibilities as the Board shall prescribe.
No participant in the program established under this part shall exercise any administrative control over any Federal employee.
The members of the Board shall be accountable for the integrity of the operations of the Foundation and shall ensure such integrity through the development and enforcement of criteria and procedures relating to standards of conduct, financial disclosure statements, conflict of interest rules, recusal and waiver rules, audits and other matter determined appropriate by the Board.
Any individual who is an officer, employee, or member of the Board of the Foundation may not (in accordance with policies and requirements developed under subsection (d)(6)) personally or substantially participate in the consideration or determination by the Foundation of any matter that would directly or predictably affect any financial interest of the individual or a relative (as such term is defined in section 13101(16) of title 5) of the individual, of any business organization or other entity, or of which the individual is an officer or employee, or is negotiating for employment, or in which the individual has any other financial interest.
Federal employees may serve on committees advisory to the Foundation and otherwise cooperate with and assist the Foundation in carrying out its function, so long as the employees do not direct or control Foundation activities.
The Foundation may, pursuant to appropriate agreements, merge with, acquire, or use the resources of existing nonprofit private corporations with missions similar to the purposes of the Foundation, such as the Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences.
The Board shall adopt written standards with respect to the ownership of any intellectual property rights derived from the collaborative efforts of the Foundation prior to the commencement of such efforts.
The activities conducted in support of the National Institutes of Health Amendments of 1990 (Public Law 101–613), and the amendments made by such Act, shall not be nullified by the enactment of this section.[1]
The Foundation shall exist solely as an entity to work in collaboration with the research programs of the National Institutes of Health. The Foundation may not undertake activities (such as the operation of independent laboratories or competing for Federal research funds) that are independent of those of the National Institutes of Health research programs.
Gifts, grants, and other donations to the Foundation may be designated for pediatric research and studies on drugs, and funds so designated shall be used solely for grants for research and studies under subsection (c)(1)(C).
Other gifts, grants, or donations received by the Foundation and not described in clause (i) may also be used to support such pediatric research and studies.
The Commissioner of Food and Drugs shall take appropriate action in response to a report received under clause (iii) in accordance with paragraphs (7) through (12) [2] of section 284m(c) of this title, including negotiating with the holders of approved applications for the drugs studied for any labeling changes that the Commissioner determines to be appropriate and requests the holders to make.
The Foundation may transfer funds to the National Institutes of Health and the National Institutes of Health may accept transfers of funds from the Foundation. Any funds transferred under this paragraph shall be subject to all Federal limitations relating to federally-funded research.
In the case of any individual who is not an employee of the Federal Government and who serves in association with the National Institutes of Health, with respect to financial assistance received from the Foundation, the Foundation may not provide the assistance of, or otherwise permit the work at the National Institutes of Health to begin until a memorandum of understanding between the individual and the Director of the National Institutes of Health, or the designee of such Director, has been executed specifying that the individual shall be subject to such ethical and procedural standards of conduct relating to duties performed at the National Institutes of Health, as the Director of the National Institutes of Health determines is appropriate.
The Director of the National Institutes of Health may provide facilities, utilities and support services to the Foundation if it is determined by the Director to be advantageous to the research programs of the National Institutes of Health.
From amounts appropriated to the National Institutes of Health, for each fiscal year, the Director of NIH shall transfer not less than $1,250,000 and not more than $5,000,000 to the Foundation.