Biotech entrepreneur Sam Waksal accused of ‘reckless conduct’ in lawsuit

Adam Feuerstein is a senior writer and biotech columnist, reporting on the crossroads of drug development, business, Wall Street, and biotechnology. He is also a co-host of the weekly biotech podcast The Readout Loud and author of the newsletter Adam’s Biotech Scorecard. You can reach Adam on Signal at stataf.54.

Sam Waksal is once again in legal trouble. 

The biotech entrepreneur, who was famously convicted of insider trading in 2003, allegedly breached his fiduciary duties and engaged in “grossly negligent and reckless conduct” as the chairman, CEO, and largest shareholder of Equilibre Biopharmaceuticals, according to a lawsuit filed this week in U.S. bankruptcy court by the trustee of the company.

Among Waksal’s “most reckless acts,” the lawsuit alleges, was an incident in which  Waksal and other Equilibre employees smuggled into the U.S. a veterinary medicine that was unapproved for human use, and then administered it to a severely ill child “outside of approved protocols and without the Food and Drug Administration’s authorization.” 

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