Relapse of COVID-19 symptoms in patients treated with Paxlovid has occurred way more often than reported, doctors present in a study detailed within the Recent England Journal of Medicine.
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Federal authorities charged the previous Pfizer an employee and his close friend on Thursday with illicit stock trading based on the outcomes of non-public trials on drug company Paxlovid’s Covid antiviral pill.
The Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission each announced insider trading charges against former employee Amit Dagar and his friend Atul Bhiwapurkar.
In line with the Department of Justice, Dagar, who helped manage and analyze some of the clinical trial data, and Bhiwapurkar “were involved in an insider trading scheme to profit illegally from options trading based on inside information” of the then-unpublished Paxlovid leads to November 2021.
The Department of Justice said each individuals sold their Pfizer call options with “significant gains” totaling greater than $350,000.
“The allegations on this case relate to private conduct by a former Pfizer employee that could be a violation of company policy,” a Pfizer spokesperson told CNBC. “Pfizer is cooperating with government investigation.”
Dagar, 44, of Hillsborough, Recent Jersey, was arrested Thursday morning and charged with 4 securities fraud counts, each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, the Justice Department said. He was also charged with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, which is punishable by as much as five years in prison.
In line with the Department of Justice, Bhiwapurkar, 45, of Milpitas, California, was also arrested Thursday and charged with two counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud.
The defendants’ attorneys didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment.
The Department of Justice announced the costs together with several other allegations of illegal trafficking, including allegations related to Trump’s media merger.