The FDA has launched a criminal investigation into research by a Southern Illinois University professor who injected people with his unauthorized herpes vaccine.
According to claims, the late SIU professor, William Halford, injected participants with his experimental herpes vaccine in Illinois hotel rooms in 2013 and in St. Kitts in 2016, without any FDA safety oversight.
The FDA probe is looking for anyone from the professor’s former company, Rational Vaccines, as well as anyone outside the company or university that may have helped conduct unauthorized research.
While it is rare for the FDA to go after research violations, the agency is empowered to pursue the unauthorized development of vaccines and drugs as a crime.
Read the KHN coverage