(Corrects spelling of attorney’s name in paragraphs 12, 13)
By Dan Levine
July 29 (Reuters) – A group of U.S. senators has asked Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to disclose whether his family stands to profit from a recent legal settlement involving Merck’s Gardasil vaccine, according to a letter reviewed by Reuters.
The letter, sent on Monday by four Democratic senators including Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, notes that Merck earlier this year agreed to pay $50 million to settle litigation over Gardasil. Before becoming health secretary last year, Kennedy was an attorney of record in some of the cases.
As health secretary Kennedy oversees multiple health agencies that regulate and pay for vaccines, and said he would hand over his financial interest in vaccine litigation to a son.
The senators asked whether Kennedy’s son received the health secretary’s share of Gardasil fees, and if so, how much money that represents.
Kennedy did not commit to recuse himself from U.S. health agency decisions involving Gardasil, the letter says, or other policymaking around vaccine litigation.
“You are charged with setting federal vaccine policy and regulating vaccine manufacturers, including Merck, even as your family and former employer may financially benefit from actions you take as Secretary,” the senators’ letter states, and asks for a reply by Aug. 11.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kennedy has long promoted anti-vaccine views and has brought a series of changes to U.S. vaccine policy since he joined the Trump administration.
Before taking office, Kennedy played an instrumental role in organizing mass litigation against Merck on behalf of people claiming injury from the Gardasil vaccine against human papillomavirus. Merck has consistently defended Gardasil’s safety and efficacy.
After his nomination by Trump, Kennedy initially said he intended to keep a 10% fee of any settlement involving Gardasil cases he referred to the Wisner Baum law firm, which has represented dozens of plaintiffs.
Warren and other lawmakers expressed concerns over the potential for a conflict of interest, and Kennedy ultimately said he would transfer his stake to a son. One of Kennedy’s sons, Conor, works at Wisner Baum.
Kennedy’s son did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did Merck. Brent Wisner, managing partner of the firm, said in an email that “at no time” will Kennedy or his son receive fees from a Gardasil settlement.
“If these Senators are worried about corruption, they should take a long hard look at the revolving door between industry” and federal agencies like the Food and Drug Administration, Wisner said.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends Gardasil as a routine immunization for 11 and 12-year-olds to prevent cervical and other cancers caused by HPV.
Earlier this year, the CDC attempted to change its guidance and said U.S. children should receive a single dose of HPV vaccine, rather than the two-dose course marketed by Merck. A federal judge blocked that move.
Kennedy has for years called for a re-examination of the process for seeking compensation for vaccine injuries. Patients who were harmed by shots on the U.S. immunization schedule can only seek a limited amount of damages from a fund run by HHS, known as the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP).
The senators’ letter said Wisner Baum has sought awards from the VICP in more than a dozen lawsuits. The senators asked whether the health department led by Kennedy intends to expand the injuries eligible for federal compensation under the VICP, among other changes.
(Reporting by Dan Levine in San Francisco; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Michael Perry)
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