Waxman Response to Public Citizen Call for Investigation of AIDS Vaccine Research

JUN 9 '94 14:54

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CONGRESSMAN
HENRY A. WAXMAN
NEWS.
2418 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILONG WASHINGTON, D.C. 20615 202-225 37MS
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For immediate release For further information, contact
June 7, 1994 Tunim Westmoreland (202) 2254952
Waxman Response to Public Citizen Call
For Investigation of AIDS Vaccine Research
Washington, DC--Congressman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif) responded to the
call by Public Citizen for investigation into allegations of misconduct in AIDS
vaccine research. Waxman said that the Subcommittee on Health and the
Environment, which he chairs, will renew its investigation into the research on
GP160 vaccine.
Waxman said, "These are serious charges. My staff will be meeting with the
Department of Defense, with NIH, and with the manufacturer. Im particularly
concerned by the charges that misconduct has affected not just past research but
ongoing research as well. This particular experimental vaccine has had a rough road.
There have been allegations of scientific misconduct, conflicts of interest, and
deceptive practices."
This research was also the subject of Congressional inquiry in 1993 because
of a special $20 million funding mechanism that would have required the Defense
Department to study GP160 specifically. Waxman authored an amendment that
would allow the DOD, NIH, and FDA to redirect these funds to other AIDS
research if they agreed that it was appropriate to do so. The Waxman amendment
was signed into law and the agencies chose to withdraw from the mandated research.
Waman described this earlier problem, saying "There was a political mistake
nmde here, but that's been corrected. At one point, lobbyists and poiticians were
making research decisions that should be made by scientists. rm happy to say that
science decisions are now being made by the scientists.
Co
"But I also want to emphasize that we need an AIDS vaccine now more than
ever. If this vaccine has been misrepresented, we'll investigate that and correct the

record. But whether it's this vaccine or the next one or the one after that, literally
milions of lives around the world hang in the balance. We have to ask scientists to
follow up on every promising lead, and we shouldn't let any misconduct by
** rOT~iL PAE02*