NIH Clears Gallo; Patent Probes Go On

Abstract

The National Institutes of Health has concluded NIH AIDS researcher Robert C. Gallo is not guilty of scientific misconduct in connection with the 1984 discovery of the AIDS virus. That conclusion, however, is under fire from critics who charge it is inconsistent with the facts uncovered by NIH's own investigation. Morever, Gallo is still under scrutiny by other federal investigators—including the staff of powerful Congressman John D. Dingell (D.-Mich.)—for possible criminal wrongdoing in connection with the patent on lucrative blood tests for the virus. At the heart of the controversy is whether Gallo's laboratory or that of French researchers at the Pasteur Institute in Paris were the first to discover the AIDS virus. In 1987, the scientists agreed to share priority and the U.S. and French governments reached a legal agreement to split the royalties from the ensuing blood test for AIDS. Gallo and his former coworker Mikulas Popovic each are entitled to ...