Contempt of Congress Charges Against HHS Secretary Dropped (for now)

March 13, 2008
Contempt of Congress Charges Against HHS Secretary Dropped (for now)

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is backing off its threat to hold HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt in contempt of Congress after he agreed to work with it to provide subpoenaed information.

The committee in January had requested a briefing book and related notes used to help FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach prepare for a March 22, 2007, hearing on sanofi-aventis’ Ketek (telithromycin). That hearing was held to determine if fraudulent data from a clinical trial were used by the agency to approve the drug.