
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 4, 1991                   TAG: 9104040191
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

FDA INSIDER TRADING PROBED

Food and Drug Administration officials have been subpoenaed in an investigation into possible insider stock trading on confidential information about drugs the agency regulates, government officials said Wednesday.

A joint investigation is under way by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services, said Judy Holtz, a spokeswoman for the inspector general's office. She declined to characterize the nature of the investigation.

Two sources familiar with the probe said it centered on insider trading using confidential information about drugs regulated by the FDA. Pharmaceutical company stock prices can rise or fall sharply on news that a major new drug has been approved by the FDA or on reports of negative FDA action related to drug companies.

One source said the investigation was focused on officials within the FDA's Office of Drug Evaluation and Research. Another said less than a dozen subpoenas had been issued.

"The fact that information is being collected is vastly different than a charge that someone's done something wrong," said FDA spokesman Jeff Nesbit.

by CNB