NIH Royalty Payments Raise Questions About Fauci Testimony, Show Wuhan Lab Ties

 Open The Books received records detailing more than 56,000 royalty payments to NIH members Freedom of Information Act between 2009 and 2021.

Fauci, Collins Received Dozens of Royalty Payments Among the recipients of royalty payments between 2009 and 2020 were then-NIH Director Francis Collins and then-National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci.

The records include 37 royalty payments entries to Dr. Fauci from Ancell Corporation, Chiron Corporation, and Santa Cruz Biotechnology Inc. There were 21 entries for Mr. Collins, from GeneDx, Inc., IONIS, ISIS Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the Progeria Research Foundation, and Specialty Laboratories, Inc. In a May 2022 House hearing, Rep. John Moolenaar asked Acting BIH Director Lawrence Tabak whether he believed these royalty payments could create the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Mr. Tabak insisted there are appropriate separations of power in place, including a policy that NIH members who receive royalty payments for contributing to products or innovations cannot also be in a position to recommend those products or innovations as treatments down the line.

Still, the NIH head insisted NIH members who contribute to scientific developments and receive royalty payments are not allowed to also have a decision-making role to recommend those same products as treatments.

Mr. Andrzejewski said Mr. Tabak and Dr. Fauci's representations to Congress "Were misleading, if not outright false." Royalties From Russia and a Wuhan Lab Connection Among the data obtained by Open The Books, there were 20 royalty payment entries from the Joint-Stock Company, Pokrov Biologistics Plant, a Russian bio-research firm.

In a 2002 report by The Washington Post, Pokrov's plant director at the time, Vladimir Gavrilov, acknowledged the plant included bunkers for housing "Very dangerous pathogens." Other royalty payments came from at least 28 Chinese companies, including 68 payments from the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd. The NIH took 14 payments from the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products Co. Ltd. between 2017 and the end of 2020, according to the data.

https://www.ntd.com/nih-royalty-payments-raise-questions-about-fauci-testimony-show-wuhan-lab-ties-watch-dog_935722.html