President Trump's pick for secretary of health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has committed funds in a major lawsuit against Merck & Co. over a vaccine widely used among young people, according to an ethics agreement and court documents released Wednesday. It has become clear that the company maintains a vested interest. The conflict of interest could raise questions for lawmakers because Mr. Kennedy seeks to run an agency that regulates drug companies.
The ethics document states that Kennedy will continue to collect fees for referring clients to Wisner Baum, the law firm that is suing Merck & Co. over Gardasil, a vaccine that prevents the human papillomavirus (HPV). are. This vaccine is given to adolescents to prevent cervical cancer and other cancers later in life.
The arrangement with Wisner Baum, which also includes other matters, has made Kennedy, one of the nation's most vocal vaccine critics, over the past two years, according to records filed with federal election officials for his presidential bid. It won more than $2.5 million. Agreement approved by the Office of Government Ethics as part of the verification process. That amount far exceeds the Health and Human Services secretary's most recent salary of about $200,000, according to a former agency spokesperson.
“I am entitled to 10% of the fees awarded in contingency fee cases brought against the company,” Kennedy wrote in his ethics filing. He wrote that he was not an attorney in any of the cases.
The contract allows Mr. Kennedy to retain interest on his contingency fee if the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Ethics determines that the federal government was not involved. He intends to waive his interest in applicable litigation, including those filed through the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
Kennedy has criticized corruption and conflicts of interest in government and the pharmaceutical industry. He has vowed to eradicate what he calls “regulatory co-optation,” or the close relationship between industry and government, particularly drug companies and the Food and Drug Administration.
The ethics filing clears the way for the Senate Health and Finance Committees to schedule confirmation hearings for Kennedy. After their release, Sen. Michael D. Crapo, R-Idaho and chairman of the Finance Committee, set a hearing for Mr. Kennedy for next Wednesday.
But the latest disclosure could complicate Mr. Kennedy's outlook. Two leading Republicans, Sens. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, expressed concern about Kennedy's views on vaccines. Mr. McConnell is a former Republican leader. Mr. Cassidy, a physician, is chairman of the health committee.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a Democratic member of the Finance Committee, said Mr. Kennedy's finances showed “an outrageous conflict of interest that endangers public health.”
“This revelation shows that RFK Jr. made millions of dollars by spreading dangerous anti-vaccine conspiracies,” she said in a statement. “Worse still, even if he is confirmed, his finances will still be tied to the outcome of anti-vaccine litigation, even though as Secretary of Health he is tasked with regulating anti-vaccine litigation.”
Two ethics experts who reviewed the agreement said Kennedy's involvement in the lawsuit appeared highly problematic because the FDA, which approves drugs and vaccines, falls within his authority as secretary of health. . Experts say Mr. Kennedy's actions related to Merck, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, could appear to be motivated by his financial interest in a large settlement. He said that there is.
“We need to seize a huge amount of money to make sure it doesn't look like we're taking money out of Merck,” said Richard W. Painter, a University of Minnesota law professor and former White House chief ethics lawyer. Deaf,” he said. “And it almost looks like extortion.”
A spokeswoman for Mr. Kennedy declined to comment.
The first of many lawsuits alleging young people were harmed by the HPV vaccine is pending in Los Angeles Superior Court. Mr. Kennedy has used social media to promote his cause. In 2022, he posted a video recruiting additional plaintiffs. Merck said the allegations are without merit.
Wisner Baum paid Kennedy about $856,000 in 2024 and about $1.6 million the year before, according to financial records filed with the government. It's unclear from the records how much of that amount came from lawsuits involving Merck & Co. Mr. Kennedy has worked with Mr. Wisner Baum on other cases, including one related to the herbicide Roundup.
Agreements like the one filed by Mr. Kennedy and signed by the Office of Government Ethics are based on criminal laws that prevent federal employees from self-dealing and regulations that prevent the appearance of conflicts of interest.
Wisner Baum is not the only law firm to receive client referrals from Mr. Kennedy. He has a similar agreement with Morgan & Morgan, which bills itself as “America's largest personal injury law firm.”
The company recently sued several major U.S. food manufacturers, accusing them of exploiting “tobacco's ruse to fill the food environment with addictive substances that are actively marketed to children and minorities.” did. This phrase echoes Kennedy's attack on ultra-processed foods.
Mr. Kennedy does not appear to be involved in the lawsuit and said in his ethics agreement that he would terminate the referral agreement upon confirmation. He also said that if confirmed, he would terminate his consulting contract with the book's publisher, Skyhorse Publishing, and hold numerous other companies, including Apple, Amazon, and two biotech companies, CRISPR Therapeutics and Dragonfly Therapeutics. He also promised to sell his interests in the company.
Ethics expert Paynter said the document outlining what Kennedy's duties are not clear on the extent to which he would be required to avoid issues related to Merck and the Gardasil vaccine. said.
Mr. Painter said he believed senators should refuse to confirm Mr. Kennedy until he resolved the issue.
Virginia Canter, a former government ethics lawyer and chief counsel for the watchdog group State Democracy Defenders Action, also reviewed the ethics statement and said Kennedy would be barred from Merck's business unless there is a further decision by Agency Ethics. He said it doesn't look like it. officials. Merck makes the blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda, as well as a number of other vaccines.
Canter said the ethics guidelines include impartiality provisions that encourage officials to consider the appearance of bias in their actions. Given Mr. Kennedy's potential profits, “how could he be impartial?” she asked.
Kennedy's Gardasil lawsuit alleges that young people developed orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, also known as POTS, and premature ovarian failure as side effects of the vaccine.
According to a report by Reuters, Mr. Kennedy was the organizer of a large law firm involved in the Gardasil case. The lawsuit also alleges that early research on Merck's vaccine was “designed to obfuscate and conceal the identification of serious injuries, including late-onset injuries,” court records show.
Robert Josephson, a Merck spokesperson, noted that on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website, the agency says it has “not detected any safety concerns related to POTS following HPV vaccination.” .
“Overwhelming scientific evidence, including more than 20 years of research and development, continues to support the safety and efficacy profile of our HPV vaccine,” said Josephson.
A study conducted in Scotland found that young people who received the HPV vaccine before the age of 14 had no chance of developing cervical cancer compared to adults in their late 20s to mid-30s. At this point, 15 to 17 people in the group are expected to develop cervical cancer.
Kennedy is likely to face rapid-fire questions from lawmakers during his confirmation hearing, including a petition to rescind authorization for all coronavirus vaccinations during the deadly phase of the pandemic. This also includes questions regarding opposition to.
He faces opposition from abortion opponents, who highlight his nearly lifelong affiliation with the Democratic Party. He has also made dizzying claims over the years, including that the polio vaccine is more deadly than the disease.
Susanne Craig contributed reporting.
