Additional Coverage:
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Professor Hoau-Yan Wang faces charges of defrauding the National Institutes of Health (NIH) out of around $16 million, according to a Maryland grand jury indictment.
Wang, employed as a tenured professor at a public university and advising a Texas-based biopharmaceutical company, is accused of submitting fraudulent grant applications to the NIH that included fabricated scientific data. These applications, aimed at securing funding for Alzheimer’s disease research, specifically a potential treatment and diagnostic test, led to the NIH granting approximately $16 million between 2017 and 2021.
This funding partially supported Wang’s salary and his laboratory research.
The DOJ states that Wang’s scheme ran from May 2015 to April 2023, involving the creation of false data in applications submitted to the NIH on his and the biopharmaceutical company’s behalf. The alleged fraud has led to charges against Wang, including one count of major fraud against the United States, two counts of wire fraud, and one count of making false statements. If convicted, Wang could face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for the major fraud charge, 20 years for each count of wire squeeze, and five years for making false statements.
The DOJ elaborates that the falsification of scientific data pertained to how the drug and diagnostic test under development would operate and their supposed benefits in improving Alzheimer’s disease indicators.