Former FDA Official Strikes Settlement with SEC Over Insider-Trading

A former FDA official reached an agreement to settle SEC charges for allegedly sharing confidential information on generics approvals with a hedge fund manager.

Gordon Johnston, a former deputy director for the Office of Generic Drugs, will pay $108,000 —the amount he earned from consultant fees — to resolve the allegations that he solicited information from FDA personnel to alert a portfolio manager when enoxaparin ANDAs moved toward approval.

The settlement comes after Johnston pleaded guilty to a related case involving securities fraud in June.