Discovering Invisible Truths | Journal of Virology

"Several years ago, I was a leading influenza scientist (1). I headed a fantastic team at the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, Legnaro, Italy. There, I was very fortunate to lead at least two impactful projects. First, we developed a vaccination system for avian influenza in poultry that successfully controlled and eradicated subsequent epidemics of the disease in Italian farms (2). Second, we ignited an international debate on sharing avian influenza virus genetic sequences in an open-access environment to boost research and preparedness in a pre-pandemic phase (3, 4). The latter challenged an existing paradigm on data sharing across disciplines and organizations and was covered broadly in the popular press (5, 6). ...

One year after my election, an Italian weekly magazine, l'Espresso, published a cover article entitled “Virus traffickers: scientists have agreements with 'Big Pharma' to sell their vaccines and create epidemics” (8). ...

The article summarized a secret investigation led by the Rome Deputy District Attorney into a purported criminal organization that was selling influenza field viruses to pharmaceutical companies to enable them to produce vaccines for contemporary strains. The investigation also clearly alleged that there was evidence of deliberate spread of pathogenic viruses into the environment, with the criminal intention of establishing avian influenza epidemics in poultry and in humans in Italy between 1999 and 2008. The magazine cited me as the criminal mastermind behind an organization of approximately 40 people (8, 9)....

My words were repositioned in space and time and misrepresented to support a conspiracy theory between scientists and Big Pharma. I was accused of a dozen crimes, one of which was punishable with life imprisonment (9)....

A little over 2 years after the leak to the press, the judge for the preliminary investigation reviewed the case and dropped all charges against me and others because “there was no case to answer” (17). My 400-page defense had convinced the judge of our innocence...."