Fauci’s Agency Raked In $690 Million From Big Pharma In The Wake Of Pandemic Lockdowns
Federal agencies under Dr. Anthony Fauci’s leadership received hundreds of millions in pharmaceutical royalties over the coronavirus pandemic.
According to an investigation by the nonprofit government watchdog Open the Books, pharmaceutical and health care companies paid more than $710 million to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which Fauci led from 1984 to 2022, received more than $690 million, or 97 percent, of the total $710 million. The payments to NIAID, the group reported, represent a two-year average that is 175 times higher than the average of less than $5 million reported over the previous decade.
“NIH and N[I]AID wasted countless taxpayer dollars illegally resisting the requirement to tell taxpayers what was happening with their tax dollars,” Open the Books reported. “That’s because in [each of] the next two years — 2022 and 2023 — Fauci’s institute collected the equivalent of 175 years in NIAID royalty payments. Nearly $690 million in just two years vs. $23.9 million over 12 years.”
Fauci’s deputies in the NIH have come under recent congressional investigation for efforts to escape accountability under federal transparency laws through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Last month, NIH Senior Advisor Dr. David Morens laughed off lawmakers’ questions related to exchanges referencing a “‘secret’ back channel” to communicate with Dr. Fauci. According to a memo released by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, new documents suggest Morens inappropriately deleted records, colluded with government officials to evade transparency requests, and used private email for government business.
“I was not aware that anything I deleted like emails was a federal record,” Morens said on Capitol Hill.
Fauci himself denied ever using private email to conduct government business when he testified before lawmakers on Monday in his first public appearance on Capitol Hill since 2022.
“I do not do government business on my private email,” Fauci said, denying the existence of a “back channel” to speak with colleagues.
The former NIAID director also denied raking in significant pharmaceutical royalties associated with the coronavirus pandemic.
“I received, I think, $122 for a monoclonal antibody that I made 27 years ago,” Fauci told the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. Beyond that, Fauci said, he received “zero” of the $690 million in royalties.
According to Open the Books, the names of the recipients of almost 5,000 royalty payments remain redacted. Nearly all the names were concealed from public view until the nonprofit watchdog sued to force compliance with transparency requests.
“The exemptions cited under FOIA law justifying the redactions, (b)(4), protect ‘from disclosure trade secrets and commercial or financial information that is privileged and confidential,’” Open the Books reported. “Why the names of NIH scientists are considered ‘confidential’ or ‘trade secrets’ is unexplained.”
Fauci characteristically dismissed critics of his dystopian lockdown prescriptions to shut down the entire country amid the coronavirus pandemic four years ago. The former White House medical adviser called the Great Barrington Declaration, an open letter by elite scientists opposing lockdowns, “invalid, both conceptually and practically,” and labeled accusations that he suppressed the lab-leak theory of origin “preposterous.”
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