Health and human services secretary nominee Rep. Tom Price received special access to discounted shares in a biomedical company, contrary to what he told Congress last week, the company’s officials say.
Price was one of fewer than 20 U.S. investors who were invited last year to buy stock at a reduced price from Innate Immunotherapeutics Ltd., an Australian biotech company, according to a report published Monday by the Wall Street Journal.
That would appear to contradict what Price told a Senate committee in a confirmation hearing last week. Questioned by senators about the stock purchases, the Georgia Republican said the discounted shares were “available to every single individual that was an investor at the time.”
Price bought the shares at a 12 percent discount from the publicly traded price. They were offered through a private placement to raise money to complete a clinical trial.
President Trump has nominated the Georgia Republican to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, the agency that oversees Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare. The Senate Finance Committee plans to vote to confirm Price Tuesday, sending his nomination to the full Senate.
