'COVID-19 Treatment Lobbying Allegations' Current Professor Denies Charges in First Trial

A Kyung Hee University professor accused of lobbying the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to approve a COVID-19 treatment drug denied most of the charges at the first trial.

The Criminal Division 12 of the Seoul Western District Court (Presiding Judge Kwon Seong-su) held a trial on the 18th for Kang (51), who is charged with breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes and obstruction of official duties by deception.

On this day, Kang's defense attorney countered the prosecution's claim that "the experiments recorded in the report were not conducted" by stating, "Although experiments were not conducted with live viruses, experiments were conducted using virus-like substances," adding, "This is not false."

Regarding the prosecution's claim that "results of side effects revealed in animal experiments were deleted," the defense explained, "The report pertains to efficacy, so there is no need to include information about side effects."

The court stated, "Since there were intermediations in the process of obtaining clinical trial approval, and attempts to receive government funding based on this approval, there are interconnected aspects overall. Therefore, it is necessary to confirm the dates of each incident and evaluate them within the broader context," and announced that the trial will continue at 10 a.m. on the 22nd of next month.

Kang was arrested and indicted on charges of lobbying for clinical trial approval for pharmaceutical company G, which was developing a COVID-19 treatment drug.

The prosecution additionally applied charges including violation of the Capital Markets Act for trading stocks using undisclosed information about clinical trial approval, violation of the Patent Act and obstruction of business for obtaining patents from the Patent Office and human subject research approval from medical institutions based on false experimental data, and attempted fraud for trying to receive tens of billions of won in government support funds using the clinical trial approval.

The prosecution believes that in the second half of 2021, G gave approximately 300 million won in cash and acquired convertible bonds worth 600 million won from the company of Yang (45), CEO of a daily necessities company, as a bribe to help obtain clinical trial approval for the treatment drug, totaling about 900 million won in benefits. Kang is reported to have been involved in the process of acquiring the convertible bonds.