Judicial Watch records show HHS paid Advanced Bioscience Resources for intact calvariums, livers, and thymuses used in humanized-mouse research. The Trump FDA later killed the contract.
An Obama-era FDA vendor schedule listed an “Intact Calvarium (8-24 weeks)” at $515 per specimen. A calvarium is the upper part of the skull.
The document sits inside 198 pages of FDA records released by Judicial Watch. Advanced Bioscience Resources, or ABR, listed the $515 charge alongside first-trimester aspiration specimens and labeled the amounts “fetal cadaverous procurement service fee.”
The records show the FDA buying fetal tissue for taxpayer-funded “humanized mice” experiments.
The FDA had turned to ABR years earlier. A July 2012 requisition sought $12,000 for “tissue procurement for humanized mice,” with $60,000 estimated for the award. Agency records said ABR was the only U.S. supplier able to provide tissue the project required.
The project implanted human fetal tissue into genetically altered mice lacking normal immune systems. FDA orders bought fetal livers and thymuses, including a 2014 order listing $325 for each tissue, plus overnight delivery and wire-transfer charges. A later 2017 quote priced livers and thymuses at $340 per sample.
Federal law bars the sale of fetal tissue for “valuable consideration,” while permitting reasonable payments for processing, preservation, transport, and related services. ABR’s document called its listed charges service fees.
Trump’s HHS ended the FDA-ABR contract in September 2018. The agency said it lacked sufficient assurance that the agreement carried appropriate protections or met procurement requirements, then launched a broader audit.