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Firm Named in PP Video Sold Fetal Tissue to Govt for $300K
Thursday, August 6, 2015 07:42 AM
By: Melanie Batley
A company identified as a fetal tissue supplier in the sting videos of Planned Parenthood earned at least $300,000 from government agencies for material used in research of treatments for HIV and eye disease, but it is unknown whether the tissue came from abortions performed at Planned Parenthood clinics, officials told Politico.
Advanced Bioscience Resources (ABR) has had contracts with the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration since 2009.
Planned Parenthood has denied that its clinics sell fetal tissue, instead donating tissue for research with patients' consent and taking fees only to cover costs. It accuses the Center for Medical Progress, which released the videos, of distorting its practices.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, however, has launched a probe and is asking three tissue procurement companies mentioned in the videos for information about their connections with Planned Parenthood.
In one of the videos, Katharine Sheehan, a former medical director of Planned Parenthood Pacific Southwest, mentioned the company.
"We have already a relationship with ABR," she said to someone posing as a competitor to ABR, according to Politico. "We've been using them for over 20 years — a really long time… They're doing the big collection for government-level collections."
Officials told Politico that the National Institutes of Health paid Advanced Bioscience Resources $257,000 since 2009, including roughly $53,000 in 2014. Some of the tissue came from fetuses that were between 17 and 22 weeks old.
Federal health officials told the Food and Drug Administration it had paid roughly $73,000 to the company since 2009, mainly for liver and thymus tissue. This is often used to develop immune systems in mice to test new drug therapies.
Advanced Bioscience Resources, based in California, charged the government $340 for a 17- to 22-week human fetal thymus, $340 for a 17- to 22-week human fetal liver, $325 for a maternal blood test, and $120 for Fed Ex overnight shipping.
"Voluntary donation of tissue for research has helped understand, treat, and cure a number of conditions and diseases that affect millions of Americans, and it has enjoyed bipartisan support and the support of leading scientists and disease groups," Health and Human Services spokesman Kevin Griffis said in a statement, according to Politico.
"We make clear to all our grantees and researchers the legal obligations they are under and we know of no violations of laws in connection with the research done at our agencies."
In the aftermath of the videos, Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood has insisted that the organization has done nothing wrong.
