Novavax Builds Legal Teams After Antitrust Scrutiny

Novavax and the Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute have added in-house talent after separately facing legal scrutiny for actions the companies’ leaders took, reported Bloomberg Law.

Novavax, currently working on a vaccine for COVID-19 and coping with claims that its leaders lined their pockets while the company embarked on the effort, announced Monday, April 12, the addition of chief compliance officer Troy Morgan. He will join the biotechnology company April 19 and report to chief legal officer John Herrmann III.

FCS, a Fort Myers, Florida-based oncology provider, disclosed a week earlier its addition of chief legal officer Nancy Ardell. She was most recently the top lawyer for Northwest Community Healthcare, a nonprofit health system in suburban Chicago.

Ardell joins FCS after its founder and former president, William Harwin, was charged by federal prosecutors in September with engaging in a criminal antitrust conspiracy.

Harwin is accused of dividing the chemotherapy and radiation treatment market in southwest Florida. The allegations stem from a US$100 million antitrust settlement that FCS reached with the Justice Department a year ago.

Harwin, who has denied wrongdoing, was unsuccessful in his effort to dismiss the case in February. Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orseck, Untereiner & Sauber and Miami’s Markus/Moss are representing Harwin, who will go to trial later this year.

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