Two top scientists - Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and his deputy, H. Clifford Lane - are among 916 government researchers who have been receiving royalties on experimental drug treatments without disclosing those royalties on their annual ethics forms or on experimental patient consent forms. The practice is legal, though NIH says it has now drafted a policy to require disclosure.

Health officials say the current and former employees are collecting royalties on drugs or medical inventions they developed while working for the government. The royalties are paid by drugmakers licensed to produce the drugs. Some $8.9 million in royalties was paid to government-employed drug inventors in 2004; the average royalty per inventor was $9,700.

Below is an example of royalties received by Fauci and Lane on the interleukin-2 AIDS regimen, an experimental treatment for patients with HIV that they invented. Fauci has said he donates all his royalties to charity, while Lane has opted to keep his.