The former chief executive of the biotechnology company InterMune Inc has been convicted of wire fraud in marketing of the drug Actimmune.
A federal jury in San Francisco convicted W. Scott Harkonen after a seven-week trial. He was acquitted of a separate charge of misbranding the drug, the US Department of Justice said last Friday.
Harkonen’s indictment last year charged that he made false and misleading statements about the drug’s effectiveness in fighting the fatal lung disease idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, known as IPF.
The conviction centered on an August 2002 news release that misstated the results of a clinical trial using Actimmune to treat the disease. The release falsely said the test showed Actimmune helped IPF patients live longer.
Prosecutors said the company, led by Harkonen, marketed the drug to treat IPF even though it wasn’t approved for that purpose by the Food and Drug Administration.
Treating one IPF patient with Actimmune for a year cost about US$50,000, and most Actimmune sales were for the unapproved treatment of IPF, the Justice Department said.
The FDA has approved the drug to treat immune system disorder and a bone disease.
“Mr. Harkonen lied to the public about the results of a clinical trial and offered false hope to people stricken with a deadly disease,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Stephanie Douglas said in a statement.
Wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and US$250,000 fine. Harkonen was InterMune’s chief executive from 1998 until 2003.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS