Former FDA Director of OGD Hit with Insider-Trading Charges

A former FDA official has been hit with insider-trading charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission for supposedly sending confidential information about FDA approvals to a hedge fund manager.

Gordon Johnston, a former deputy director for the Office of Generic Drugs, was charged with conspiring with Sanjay Valvani, a portfolio manager at Visium Asset Management, who piled up nearly $32 million in fraudulent profits for trading on tips from Johnston, the SEC complaint states.

Between 2005 and 2011, Johnston served as a consultant to Valvani, a role he concealed while soliciting information from FDA personnel about pending generic enoxaparin ANDAs, according to the complaint. At the time, Johnston was also the vice president of the Generic Drug Trade Association.