Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Monday he is launching an investigation into whether Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson engaged in gain-of-function research and misled the public about doing so.
Paxton also will investigate whether the pharmaceutical companies misrepresented the efficacy of their COVID-19 vaccines and whether they manipulated vaccine trial data.
"In recent years, certain pharmaceutical companies have had record-breaking financial success, driven in part by sales made from products related to the COVID-19 pandemic," according to a news release from Paxton's office. "This vested interest in the success of these COVID-19 products, combined with reports about the alarming side effects of vaccines, demands aggressive investigation."
In letters to each company, Paxton's office requested a lengthy list of documents to be returned to his office by May 31. Paxton was against vaccine and mask mandates and lockdowns during the pandemic, including in his own state.
"This investigation aims to discover the truth," Paxton said in the news release. "This pandemic was a deeply challenging time for Americans. If any company illegally took advantage of consumers during this period or compromised people's safety to increase their profits, they will be held responsible. If public health policy was developed on the basis of flawed or misleading research, the public must know."
In a statement, Pfizer spokeswoman Sharon Castillo defended the company's practices, saying "regulatory agencies across the world have authorized the use of our COVID-19 vaccine."
"These authorizations are based on robust and independent evaluation of the scientific data on quality, safety and efficacy, including our landmark phase 3 clinical trial," Castillo wrote, according to KPRC-TV in Houston. "Data from real-world studies complement the clinical trial data and provide additional evidence that the vaccine provides effective protection against severe disease."
The GOP-led House has been investigating whether gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China and subsequent lab leak might have been the root cause of the pandemic. Robert Redfield, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the Trump administration, told the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic in March that gain-of-function research is defined as "altering a pathogen to increase either transmissibility or pathogenicity."
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., also has been an advocate for investigating the ties between gain-of-function research and the pandemic.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.