Thread by @DrEricDing

After 15 million doses of J&J vaccines earlier ruined by Emergent’s factory, it’s further revealed >100 mil doses are on hold as FDA checks for possible contamination. Emergent has long troubling record—but Trump WH awarded big contract anyway.🧵#COVID19
nytimes.com/2021/05/19/us/…

2) In more than three hours of testimony before a House subcommittee, the chief executive, Robert G. Kramer, calmly acknowledged unsanitary conditions, including mold and peeling paint, at the Baltimore plant.

3) He conceded that Johnson & Johnson — not Emergent — had discovered contaminated doses, and he fended off aggressive questions about his stock sales and hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonuses for top company executives.

4) Emergent’s Baltimore plant was forced to halt operations a month ago after contamination spoiled the equivalent of 15 million doses. He said he took “very seriously” a report by federal regulators that revealed manufacturing deficiencies & accepted “full responsibility.”

5) Mr. Kramer’s appearance before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, offered the public its first glimpse of the men who run Emergent, a politically connected federal contractor that dominates a niche market in biodefense preparedness.

6) Testifying virtually, Mr. Kramer was joined by the firm’s founder and executive chairman, Fuad El-Hibri, who over the past two decades has expanded Emergent from a small biotech outfit into a company with $1.5 billion in annual revenues.

7) Executive compensation documents made public show that the company’s board praised Mr. El-Hibri, who cashed in stock shares and options worth more than $42 million last year, for “leveraging his critical relationships with key customers, Congress and other stakeholders.”

8) Among those members of Congress is Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 House Republican. Federal campaign records show that since 2018, Mr. El-Hibri and his wife have donated more than $150,000 to groups affiliated with Mr. Scalise.

9) Mr. Kramer’s estimate of 100 million doses on hold added 30 million to the number of Johnson & Johnson doses that are effectively quarantined because of regulatory concerns about contamination.

10) Federal officials had previously estimated that the equivalent of about 70 million doses — most of that destined for domestic use — could not be released, pending tests for purity.

11) House Democrats began their inquiry into Emergent after The New York Times documented months of problems at the Baltimore plant, including failure to properly disinfect equipment and to protect against viral and bacterial contamination.

12) Hours before the hearing, committee released confidential audits that cited repeated violations of manufacturing standards. A top federal manufacturing expert echoed those concerns in a June 2020 report, warning that Emergent lacked trained staff and adequate quality control.

13) Mr. Kramer initially testified that contamination of the Johnson & Johnson doses “was identified through our quality control procedures and checks and balances.” But under questioning, he acknowledged that a Johnson & Johnson lab in the Netherlands had picked up the problem.

14) Johnson & Johnson hired Emergent to produce its vaccine and, at the insistence of the Biden administration, is now asserting greater control over the plant.

15) The government awarded Emergent a $628 mil contract last year. Among other things, lawmakers are looking into whether @emergentbiosolu leveraged its contacts with a top Trump official, Dr. Robert Kadlec, to win that contract and whether officials ignored known deficiencies.

16) Emergent is skilled at working Washington. Its board is stocked with former government officials, and Senate lobbying disclosures show that the company has spent an average of $3 million a year on lobbying over the past decade.

17) Democrats pressed Kramer & El-Hibri about contacts with Dr. Kadlec, who had consulted for Emergent. Emergent agreed to pay him $120,000 annually 2012-2015, and that he recommended that Emergent be given a “priority rating” so that the contract could be approved speedily.

18) The government has so far paid Emergent $271 million, even though American regulators have yet to clear a single dose of vaccine produced at the Baltimore plant.



19) A Times investigation found that Emergent has exercised outsize influence over the Strategic National Stockpile, the nation’s emergency medical reserve; in some years, Emergent’s anthrax vaccine has accounted for as much as half the stockpile’s budget.
nytimes.com/2021/03/06/us/…

20) The investigation found that some federal officials felt the company was gouging taxpayers — an issue that also came up at Wednesday’s hearing when @RepMaloney, demanded to know how much it cost to make the vaccine and what it sold for. Mr. El-Hibri promised info later.