DES MOINES, IA - United States Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt announced that Dr. Dong Pyou Han appeared in United States District Court today before the Honorable Celeste F. Bremer, and was arraigned on an Indictment that charges him with four counts of making a false statement.
According to the Indictment, while conducting research on behalf of Iowa State University, Dr. Han falsified scientific data to make it appear an experimental HIV/AIDS vaccine, gp41, neutralized, or controlled, the HIV/AIDS virus in rabbits, when in fact the vaccine did not. The Indictment further alleges that Dr. Han spiked sera samples from gp41-immunized rabbits with human sera containing HIV antibodies. The spiking of the rabbit samples made it appear that gp41 produced neutralizing antibodies against the HIV/AIDS virus. The false data was reported to the National Institutes of Health in a research grant application and funded grant progress reports.
A jury trial is scheduled to commence on Sept. 2, 2014, before Chief Judge James E. Gritzner.
Each count of making a false statement carries a maximum term of five years imprisonment, up to a $250,000 fine, and up to three years of supervised release. An indictment is merely an accusation, and Dr. Han is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
