Upton and Pitts continue to seek answers from FDA

U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman, and U.S. Rep. Joseph Pitts (R-PA), Health Subcommittee Chairman, continued their joint endeavor to obtain answers from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding its procedures to protect product trade secrets and confidential information in the food industry.

“The committee’s concerns about FDA’s procedures to protect trade secret and confidential information are underscored by an insider trading case brought by federal officials recently in New York," Upton and Pitts wrote in the letter. "Prosecutors found that a political intelligence consultant and former FDA official unlawfully obtained the status and approval of a generic drug through contact with a current FDA senior official. The former FDA official provided the highly confidential information to a portfolio manager, who used the information to trade in the securities of two pharmaceutical companies likely to be affected by an approval of a generic enoxaparin application.”

Continuing, they added, “As a result of the trading scheme, approximately $25 million in trading profits were earned when the FDA announced its first such approval. The portfolio manager also tipped off a health care-focused hedge fund with material nonpublic information from the FDA, reaping millions of dollars in illegal profits.”