Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., is believed to have lost millions of dollars after a biotech firm’s stock tanked overnight following poor results in clinical trials.
Collins, a businessman before shifting to politics, bought into Australian company Innate Immunotherapeutics 15 years ago. and had reportedly tried to convince other lawmakers to buy in as well. Collins invested in the company’s multiple sclerosis drug, MIS416. Before the weekend, he had owned nearly 17 percent of the $45.5 million brand, now worth a mere $1.5 million.
On Tuesday, the company’s stock closed at five cents a share in the Australian Stock Market after clinical trials in Australia and New Zealand failed. The news came before the product was set to be tested in the U.S.
Collins told the Buffalo News he did not sell any shares prior to the price drop Tuesday but did not share how much money he lost in the plunge.
“What we’ve done and what we are doing is life changing and life-saving for potentially millions,” Collins told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle prior to the crash. “I’m so proud of what this company is doing and without me, it wouldn’t exist. When they write my epitaph, it’s going to say Innate Immunotherapeutics, saving millions of lives. It’s not going to be member of Congress.”
Collins had talked congressman-turned-Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price into buying shares of Innate. The Cabinet official sold his shares prior to joining the Trump administration, but other friends of Collin’s were not as fortunate.
Republican Reps. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, Billy Long of Missouri, Mike Conaway of Texas, and Doug Lamborn of Colorado purchased Innate stock earlier this year when it was near its highest point.
