Did his brother help develop a product that increased the risk of autism in children?

August 20, 2009
When Vaccine Development is Family Business: Thomas Insel's Conflicted Role on Vaccines and Autism
By Dan Olmsted and Mark Blaxill

(Four Insel Brothers, Four MDs (left to right) Jonathan, Richard, Thomas, and Paul)

Thomas R. Insel, the psychiatrist in charge of autism research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has a family connection to one of the vaccines potentially implicated in the sharp rise in autism rates since 1990. His brother, Richard A. Insel, was part of both the research team that developed the vaccine for Haemophilus influenza B (Hib) and the company that profited from the introduction of the first commercial Hib vaccine formulation. Richard Insel was a co-founder and director of Praxis Biologics--a vaccine development company in Rochester, New York--that together with a research team at the University of Rochester developed and then sold HibTITER®, a vaccine for Hib first licensed for children in December 1988 and for infants in October 1990. Largely based on the momentum of its successful Hib vaccine, Praxis Biologics was sold in 1989 to American Cyanamid in a deal valued at $190 million. As co-founder and director, Richard Insel held shares that gave him a 2% interest in the company, making his personal share of the transaction worth close to $4 million.

Despite his family connection to the Hib vaccine, there is neither evidence nor suggestion of undisclosed financial conflict on Thomas Insel’s part; all the Praxis Biologics transactions and development activity associated with HibTITER® occurred at least twenty years ago and involved his brother, Richard Insel. Nor has Richard Insel been involved in autism research in any way. But HibTITER® contained the ethyl mercury-based preservative thimerosal, a vaccine component that has been at the center of an ongoing controversy in autism. Many organizations concerned over vaccine safety, including many autism groups, have been asking for increased NIH funding for vaccine safety research, including research into the effects of thimerosal. In that context, Age of Autism’s investigation of Thomas Insel’s familial link to a thimerosal-containing vaccine developed by his brother raises important questions, and advocates for more research on a possible link reacted strongly to the connection.

Put simply, Thomas Insel presides over the NIH research into the causes of autism. In his dual capacity as autism planner and brother (see HERE), responding to these concerns would require him to address a personally difficult question: Did his brother help develop a product that increased the risk of autism in children?