'Why Don't You Let Us Know?' Sen. Paul Presses Fauci on Royalty Payments

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) speaks during a hearing in Washington in an April 26, 2022, file image. (Al Drago/AFP via Getty Images)

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on June 16 pressed Dr. Anthony Fauci on the royalty payments he's received while working for the federal government.

Recently disclosed information showed that Fauci was one of hundreds of scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to receive royalty payments. Fauci got 23 payments between October 2009 and September 2014, but it is unclear how much money he made.

"Can you tell me that you have not received a royalty from any entity that you ever oversaw the distribution of money in research grants?" Paul asked Fauci. "Have you ever received a royalty payment from a company that you later oversaw money going to that company?"

"I don't know, as a fact, but I doubt it," Fauci responded.

Fauci was testifying virtually during a Senate Health Committee hearing.

"Why don't you let us know? Why don't you reveal how much you've gotten, and from what entities?" Paul said.

The Epoch Times has submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for all royalty payments that Fauci has received since becoming head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is part of the NIH, in 1984.

Open the Books received information in May showing that 1,675 NIH scientists received at least one payment during fiscal years 2010 to 2014, and that Fauci received 23 payments during that time.

In this image from video, Dr. Anthony Fauci testifies to a Senate panel via remote link. (The Epoch Times via the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee)

The amount of the payments is unclear "because of how these documents are redacted," Open the Books said in a fact sheet.

The Associated Press previously found that Fauci received $45,000 between 1997 and 2004 in payments for interleukin-2, an experimental AIDS treatment. Fauci told the outlet at the time that he tried refusing the payments but was told that couldn't happen, so he donated the money to charity. Fauci also said he tried reporting the payments on financial disclosures mandated for government employees but was told to remove them because they were considered federal compensation as opposed to outside income.

Adam Andrzejewski, founder and president of Open the Books, told The Epoch Times that every royalty payment "could be a conflict of interest" and urged the government to be transparent about the payments.

During Thursday's hearing, Paul said his efforts to get the information have been stonewalled. "We asked them, the NIH, who got it and how much. They refused to tell us. They sent it redacted."

Fauci defended the withholding of the information, telling Paul, "According to the regulations, people who have received royalties are not required to divulge them even on their financial statements, according to the Bayh–Dole Act."

He then read off information he had brought up off-camera, which he said showed that from 2015 to 2020, the only royalties he received were for a monoclonal antibody he made.

"And during that period of time, my royalties range from $21 a year to $700 a year," Fauci said. "The average per year was $191.46."

Mark Tapscott contributed to this report.