Kennedy would keep legal fees from Merck cases if | Stock News

By Dan Levine and Mike Spector

(Reuters) – Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would retain legal charges earned from litigation in opposition to drugmaker Merck (NSE:) if he’s confirmed as President Donald Trump’s secretary of the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Providers, in accordance with a federal ethics disclosure made public on Wednesday.

Kennedy, who ended his own presidential marketing campaign final yr to endorse Trump, is set for a U.S. Senate listening to on his nomination subsequent week. As HHS secretary, Kennedy would wield monumental affect over the pharma industry, and the nomination is opposed by a number of health and shopper organizations over Kennedy’s position in sowing doubt in regards to the security and efficacy of vaccines.

Reuters reported final week that Kennedy performed an instrumental position in organizing mass litigation in opposition to Merck over its human papillomavirus shot Gardasil. One of the primary legal professionals suing Merck, Michael Baum, informed Reuters that Kennedy “taught us” how to pursue Gardasil claims outdoors a particular government-run vaccine compensation program that limits pharma company legal responsibility.

Kennedy has an association to earn 10 p.c of charges awarded in contingency instances he refers to Baum’s firm WisnerBaum, in accordance with a letter Kennedy wrote to an HHS ethics official launched on Wednesday. If confirmed, Kennedy would retain that financial curiosity in instances that don’t immediately affect the U.S. authorities, the letter mentioned.

Kennedy and Baum didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark. Merck declined to remark.

Excessive-level U.S. authorities officers routinely disclose financial pursuits and potential conflicts during the nomination course of.

Kennedy wrote that he’s “not an attorney of record” for his WisnerBaum instances. Nonetheless, Kennedy filed official court docket appearances in a number of Gardasil instances, together with one set for trial in Los Angeles this week, court docket dockets show. As of Wednesday, Kennedy had not appeared to have withdrawn from them.

In a separate ethics disclosure, Kennedy reported a minimum of $857,000 from WisnerBaum, and didn’t specify which instances generated that income. Kennedy has collaborated with WisnerBaum on litigation over Monsanto (NYSE:)’s weed killer Roundup.

The Gardasil lawsuits allege Merck had fraudulently marketed the vaccine as protected, overstating its advantages whereas concealing data of harmful uncomfortable side effects. Merck says the instances have no advantage and that analysis helps the protection of its HPV vaccines.