WASHINGTON – The National Institutes of Health sent around $17 million to a consortium of Colombian corporations accused of developing a “questionable” malaria vaccine tested on owl monkeys held in squalor, The Post has exclusively learned.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals launched an investigation into the businesses after a whistleblower passed along images of the disheveled primates utilized in NIH-funded experiments based on “shoddy science and manipulation of knowledge,” in line with the animal rights group.
“It appears to be an enormous scam, if I’m honest,” PETA attorney Magnolia Martinez told The Post. “American taxpayers are being scammed into paying for a malaria vaccine that doesn’t exist – and it should never be produced through the use of monkeys.”
Socrates Herrera, who owns the businesses with wife Myriam Arevalo-Hererra, denied the allegations in an email to the Post on Thursday, charging that PETA’s claims are “based on false accusations and documents put out of context.”
“Monkey studies have contributed to … successfully moving from the number of malaria parasite antigens [in the discovery phase], to animal studies [in the preclinical phase], to human vaccine trials [in the clinical phase] with the support and supervision of institutions as prestigious because the World Health Organization,” Herrera wrote.
But Martinez said her interviews with 11 former and current employees raised questions on the studies’ integrity.
“They’ve published clinical trials where they supposedly have proof,” she said. “Nevertheless, based on the testimonies from insiders, we should not sure that they are literally doing what they’re saying they’re doing.”
Herrera’s corporations – Caucaseco Scientific Research Center and the Malaria Vaccine and Drug Development Center and the FUCEP primate center in Cali, Colombia – have collaborative agreements with the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, formerly headed by President Biden’s chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci, but operate with little to no oversight.
While any US organization that uses animals for testing should be inspected annually and report any animal welfare violations to receive NIH funding, that rule doesn’t apply overseas, Martinez said.
“They’re being funded by American money, but they don’t have to satisfy any of the American laws and nobody cares,” she said. “For fiscal yr 2022, around 700 [NIH] grants were awarded to foreign institutions. Just imagine – we’re talking about greater than $200 million with no oversight in any respect. That’s absurd.”
Now, PETA wants the NIH to implement those self same inspection and reporting requirements on foreign research labs. (NIH and NIAID didn’t reply to the Post’s requests for comment).
Herrera said his corporations wouldn’t oppose the rule changes – though he didn’t report animal welfare violations discovered by the Colombian government last yr.
“We fully agree that the principles and regulations of NIH-funded projects should be similar, no matter the positioning of research execution,” he wrote. “… There shouldn’t be any undue burden to require self-reports on animal welfare violations or undergo an annual inspection of NIH-sponsored scientists.”
Animal abuse accusations
An inspection last yr by Corporación Autonoma Regional del Valle del Cauca, the regional environmental authority, found multiple animal welfare violations within the consortium’s primate research center, FUCEP. On the time, the power consisted of a chain-link fence with construction mesh used for partitions and a roof, in line with the official report.
“There aren’t any holes that allow the entry of UV rays and no windows that allow airflow,” the inspector’s report said. “The presence of food stays within the [water bowls], presence of high humidity within the enclosures [and] fungi display unsuitable sanitary conditions for the possession of primates.”
The authority also found that there have been “inappropriate densities” of groups of monkeys held in 2.6-foot cages, which were caked with feces and rust.
Herrera acknowledged the findings in an email to the Post on Thursday, claiming that the power is now undergoing renovations to enhance its “operation” and the inspection “was performed on the time the animal technicians were cleansing the power.”
“Based on a brief visual inspection, [inspectors] concluded that there was animal abuse and malnutrition,” he wrote. “These claims are based on superficial inspection without animal examination, animal-records analyses and laboratory tests.”
The investigation also found that the power didn’t keep medical records on the 127 owl monkeys and 6 squirrel monkeys at the power. Further, no veterinarian was kept on staff, nor were there “endpoint protocol that determines the moment wherein the animal should be withdrawn from the tests carried out.”
Herrera denied those findings, claiming “we’ve got all the time had vets at the middle” — including two currently on staff.
“Over the 37 years that the primates center has been running, occasionally vets have been absent resulting from health leave, or vacation,” he said. “Unfortunately the day that [the investigator] was visiting the power, our vet was not present.”
Investigators fowarded their report back to the Colombian attorney general’s office, which Herrera claimed then surveyed the power and “concluded that there isn’t any evidence of animal abuse or malnutrition.”
“PETA has never approached us directly, and the Colombian government has not, by itself, opened any investigation besides those promoted by PETA based on anonymous and false information,” Herrera added.
Nevertheless, a prosecutor from the office on Dec. 2 sent Martinez, the PETA lawyer, an email stating the case was still under review but there was a “possibility” charges might be filed in the approaching months of “crimes against life, the physical and emotional integrity of animals, in addition to others.”
Accusations of fraud
Martinez’s investigation also uncovered disturbing allegations of false reports to the NIH and other agencies to maintain funding flowing.
In two of Herrera’s current NIAID grant applications, he stated that FUCEP and Caucaseco keep monkeys under the “care and welfare … [of] a veterinarian and trained technicians and are regulated in line with the stipulations of the international guidelines” including the NIH’s Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals – a claim that runs contrary to the November 2021 inspection.
Further, Martinez said she has obtained contracts from whistleblowers that suggest Herrera’s employees were paid significantly lower than those reported in grant applications.
For instance, three employees “who allegedly performed activities related to NIAID grants” in 2015, 2017 and 2018 were paid monthly salaries of $582, $695 and $456, respectively, she said. Nevertheless, Herrera in a 2020 NIAID grant claimed employees in similar positions would receive $2,166 to $2,541 per thirty days.
“On at the least one occasion, Herrera allegedly decided to finish an agreement with [another] international funding agency when that agency asked him for proof that his employees were being appropriately paid with the resources provided by the agency to this end,” Martinez said of a whistleblower’s account.
When asked concerning the allegations, Herrera said he had “no figures” on salaries, but suggested a few of the employees may not have had enough skilled training to warrant the upper salaries requested in grant applications.
“In some opportunities we’ve got not found the best person or training required for needs of the middle, wherein case the salary is lower than anticipates,” he said. “In some cases you would like more individuals with lower training and salary to perform a given task.”
He added that the NIH allows principal researchers to “change the budget destination” of as much as 25% of the allotted funds “without requesting any authorization.”
“CSRC is happy with its institutional model and achievements in infrastructure and organizational development, scientific level and international leadership on sound scientific and administrative practices,” Herrera wrote.
But PETA senior vp Kathy Guillermo said the US government should take motion against Herrera’s consortium in light of the whistleblowers’ accusations and other revelations from Martinez’s investigation.
“NIH needs to chop off the cash spigot to Caucaseco immediately and demand a return of all funds – and all scientific papers from this source and the MVDC must be immediately retracted,” she said. “Congress should then suspend NIH’s funds for foreign research organizations, for the reason that agency is asleep on the wheel and may’t be trusted.”
WASHINGTON – The National Institutes of Health sent around $17 million to a consortium of Colombian corporations accused of developing a “questionable” malaria vaccine tested on owl monkeys held in squalor, The Post has exclusively learned.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals launched an investigation into the businesses after a whistleblower passed along images of the disheveled primates utilized in NIH-funded experiments based on “shoddy science and manipulation of knowledge,” in line with the animal rights group.
“It appears to be an enormous scam, if I’m honest,” PETA attorney Magnolia Martinez told The Post. “American taxpayers are being scammed into paying for a malaria vaccine that doesn’t exist – and it should never be produced through the use of monkeys.”
Socrates Herrera, who owns the businesses with wife Myriam Arevalo-Hererra, denied the allegations in an email to the Post on Thursday, charging that PETA’s claims are “based on false accusations and documents put out of context.”
“Monkey studies have contributed to … successfully moving from the number of malaria parasite antigens [in the discovery phase], to animal studies [in the preclinical phase], to human vaccine trials [in the clinical phase] with the support and supervision of institutions as prestigious because the World Health Organization,” Herrera wrote.
But Martinez said her interviews with 11 former and current employees raised questions on the studies’ integrity.
“They’ve published clinical trials where they supposedly have proof,” she said. “Nevertheless, based on the testimonies from insiders, we should not sure that they are literally doing what they’re saying they’re doing.”
Herrera’s corporations – Caucaseco Scientific Research Center and the Malaria Vaccine and Drug Development Center and the FUCEP primate center in Cali, Colombia – have collaborative agreements with the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, formerly headed by President Biden’s chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci, but operate with little to no oversight.
While any US organization that uses animals for testing should be inspected annually and report any animal welfare violations to receive NIH funding, that rule doesn’t apply overseas, Martinez said.
“They’re being funded by American money, but they don’t have to satisfy any of the American laws and nobody cares,” she said. “For fiscal yr 2022, around 700 [NIH] grants were awarded to foreign institutions. Just imagine – we’re talking about greater than $200 million with no oversight in any respect. That’s absurd.”
Now, PETA wants the NIH to implement those self same inspection and reporting requirements on foreign research labs. (NIH and NIAID didn’t reply to the Post’s requests for comment).
Herrera said his corporations wouldn’t oppose the rule changes – though he didn’t report animal welfare violations discovered by the Colombian government last yr.
“We fully agree that the principles and regulations of NIH-funded projects should be similar, no matter the positioning of research execution,” he wrote. “… There shouldn’t be any undue burden to require self-reports on animal welfare violations or undergo an annual inspection of NIH-sponsored scientists.”
Animal abuse accusations
An inspection last yr by Corporación Autonoma Regional del Valle del Cauca, the regional environmental authority, found multiple animal welfare violations within the consortium’s primate research center, FUCEP. On the time, the power consisted of a chain-link fence with construction mesh used for partitions and a roof, in line with the official report.
“There aren’t any holes that allow the entry of UV rays and no windows that allow airflow,” the inspector’s report said. “The presence of food stays within the [water bowls], presence of high humidity within the enclosures [and] fungi display unsuitable sanitary conditions for the possession of primates.”
The authority also found that there have been “inappropriate densities” of groups of monkeys held in 2.6-foot cages, which were caked with feces and rust.
Herrera acknowledged the findings in an email to the Post on Thursday, claiming that the power is now undergoing renovations to enhance its “operation” and the inspection “was performed on the time the animal technicians were cleansing the power.”
“Based on a brief visual inspection, [inspectors] concluded that there was animal abuse and malnutrition,” he wrote. “These claims are based on superficial inspection without animal examination, animal-records analyses and laboratory tests.”
The investigation also found that the power didn’t keep medical records on the 127 owl monkeys and 6 squirrel monkeys at the power. Further, no veterinarian was kept on staff, nor were there “endpoint protocol that determines the moment wherein the animal should be withdrawn from the tests carried out.”
Herrera denied those findings, claiming “we’ve got all the time had vets at the middle” — including two currently on staff.
“Over the 37 years that the primates center has been running, occasionally vets have been absent resulting from health leave, or vacation,” he said. “Unfortunately the day that [the investigator] was visiting the power, our vet was not present.”
Investigators fowarded their report back to the Colombian attorney general’s office, which Herrera claimed then surveyed the power and “concluded that there isn’t any evidence of animal abuse or malnutrition.”
“PETA has never approached us directly, and the Colombian government has not, by itself, opened any investigation besides those promoted by PETA based on anonymous and false information,” Herrera added.
Nevertheless, a prosecutor from the office on Dec. 2 sent Martinez, the PETA lawyer, an email stating the case was still under review but there was a “possibility” charges might be filed in the approaching months of “crimes against life, the physical and emotional integrity of animals, in addition to others.”
Accusations of fraud
Martinez’s investigation also uncovered disturbing allegations of false reports to the NIH and other agencies to maintain funding flowing.
In two of Herrera’s current NIAID grant applications, he stated that FUCEP and Caucaseco keep monkeys under the “care and welfare … [of] a veterinarian and trained technicians and are regulated in line with the stipulations of the international guidelines” including the NIH’s Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals – a claim that runs contrary to the November 2021 inspection.
Further, Martinez said she has obtained contracts from whistleblowers that suggest Herrera’s employees were paid significantly lower than those reported in grant applications.
For instance, three employees “who allegedly performed activities related to NIAID grants” in 2015, 2017 and 2018 were paid monthly salaries of $582, $695 and $456, respectively, she said. Nevertheless, Herrera in a 2020 NIAID grant claimed employees in similar positions would receive $2,166 to $2,541 per thirty days.
“On at the least one occasion, Herrera allegedly decided to finish an agreement with [another] international funding agency when that agency asked him for proof that his employees were being appropriately paid with the resources provided by the agency to this end,” Martinez said of a whistleblower’s account.
When asked concerning the allegations, Herrera said he had “no figures” on salaries, but suggested a few of the employees may not have had enough skilled training to warrant the upper salaries requested in grant applications.
“In some opportunities we’ve got not found the best person or training required for needs of the middle, wherein case the salary is lower than anticipates,” he said. “In some cases you would like more individuals with lower training and salary to perform a given task.”
He added that the NIH allows principal researchers to “change the budget destination” of as much as 25% of the allotted funds “without requesting any authorization.”
“CSRC is happy with its institutional model and achievements in infrastructure and organizational development, scientific level and international leadership on sound scientific and administrative practices,” Herrera wrote.
But PETA senior vp Kathy Guillermo said the US government should take motion against Herrera’s consortium in light of the whistleblowers’ accusations and other revelations from Martinez’s investigation.
“NIH needs to chop off the cash spigot to Caucaseco immediately and demand a return of all funds – and all scientific papers from this source and the MVDC must be immediately retracted,” she said. “Congress should then suspend NIH’s funds for foreign research organizations, for the reason that agency is asleep on the wheel and may’t be trusted.”
