Former UCI Researcher Quits Job at Firm

The researcher in the middle of the UC Irvine cancer research scandal has resigned from his position at the pharmaceutical company he helped found and that funded much of his research.

Dr. John C. Hiserodt also sold his stake of about 1.5% in Meyer Pharmaceuticals back to the company for a slight profit, said Michael O’Neill, president of the Irvine firm.

Hiserodt had been on paid leave since December from his position as vice president of Meyer.

He quit his UCI post a year ago.

O’Neill said Hiserodt called him Tuesday and submitted his resignation. O’Neill said the company did not want him to leave.

“We valued John’s contribution,” he said. “He was an excellent basic researcher.”

Reached at his Huntington Beach home Friday, Hiserodt said he was going “to get on with my career” but declined to elaborate.

Hiserodt became an assistant professor at UCI in 1993 while he was under investigation for falsifying research data while working for the University of Pittsburgh. A year later, the National Institutes of Health found the charges true and barred him from working on federally funded research for five years.

UCI officials repeatedly warned Hiserodt not to work at the university’s Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center laboratory for fear of endangering the funding of others who received federal money.

University investigations from 1995 through 1997 found that the cancer lab where he had worked had engaged in unauthorized experiments and practices, and UCI shut down the lab.

The federal Food and Drug Administration has launched a criminal investigation into the university’s finding that Hiserodt violated federal and university rules when he shipped an unauthorized vaccine to Florida in 1996 for use on a dying 8-year-old girl.

Meyer bought licenses for 14 pending patents on technologies and treatments that Hiserodt and other researchers developed at the Chao Center.