Former BARDA Director Rick Bright Settles Whistleblower Lawsuit

The former director of NIH’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), Rick Bright, has settled his whistleblower complaint that he was retaliated against by HHS for pushing for a more robust response in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bright filed the complaint with the Office of Special Counsel in May 2020, charging he was ousted from his position after the Trump administration ignored his warnings about the government’s inadequate pandemic response, including his assertion that distributing the unvetted anti-malarial drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as COVID-19 treatments was dangerous (DID, May 6, 2020).

Bright alleged that his involuntary transfer from his role as director of BARDA to a lower-level position at NIH overseeing a COVID-19 diagnostic initiative was made in direct retaliation for his refusal to tow the political line. He eventually left NIH in October (DID, Oct. 7, 2020).

“I am grateful to have resolved my employment claims so I can focus all of my attention on my lifelong career goal: containing global outbreaks and preventing pandemics to ensure the world never again suffers the consequences we have seen over the past 18 months,” Bright said.

Bright, who assisted with President Biden’s COVID-19 Task Force transition team, now serves as senior vice president of pandemic prevention and response with the Rockefeller Foundation.

Financial details of the settlement with Bright were not disclosed. ― Jason Scott