According to news reports, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has raided the San Diego, California headquarters of vaccine developer NexBio and removed papers. FBI agent Darrell Foxworth is quoted as saying that the search warrant was in regard to ” an ongoing investigation involving violations of criminal law.” No arrests were reported.
A local television station reported that the FBI agents were working in conjunction with the Office of the Inspector General in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and that a witness said that “the warrant to search the biotech company was for the misuse of government funds that were allocated for medical research and development.” NexBio has received approximately $60 million dollars in grant money from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a division of HHS.
NexBio’s Fludase vaccine is a dry powder formulation created using the company’s proprietary TOSAP (temperature-controlled organic solvent assisted precipitation) technology and delivered by Teva Pharmachemie’s Cyclohaler DPI. The product is currently in Phase 2 trials for community acquired influenza and Phase 1 trials to evaluate safety in patients with asthma or bronchiectasis.
The company was founded in 2008 by CEO Mang Yu and the company’s President, R&D, Fang Fang. Both previously worked for Perlan Therapeutics, which was founded by Mang.
Read a local television station report.
Read an MSNBC.com article.
