At the center of these deals is Dr. Robert Kadlec, a senior Trump appointee at the Department of the Health and Human Services, who backed the Pepcid, Novavax and ApiJect projects. Records obtained by the AP also describe Kadlec as a key supporter of Plasma Tech, owned by Eugene Zurlo, a former pharmaceutical industry executive and. Three years ago, Zurlo brought Rick Santorum, who spent 12 years as a GOP senator from Pennsylvania, aboard as a part-owner.
Zurlo said in an email that the shortage of plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients, which is needed to make these therapies, underlines the need for the technology he’s patented to harvest as many of these proteins as possible. HHS would not comment when asked whether Santorum’s public backing of the president helped the company he has a financial stake in getting a government contract.
Plasma Technologies seemed to be on its way in 2014 after the company licensed its system to a Dallas-based business, according to financial records filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. But three years later, the agreement ended abruptly, without producing any therapies approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
BARDA’s experts sought COVID-19 vaccines and treatments that could be delivered quickly, and Plasma Technologies’ project was a longer-term effort. “They were not excited,” recalled Bright, a vaccine expert who has been sharply critical of Kadlec’s HHS tenureSo, Plasma Technologies turned to the Defense Department, also engaged heavily in the government’s COVID-19 response. The AP obtained a copy of the company’s May 28 proposal, which sought $51.
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