EXECUTIVE WITH TIES TO CUOMO GOT SPECIAL ACCESS

Regeneron president asked state for tests during first wave

The president of Regeneron, a pharmaceutical company with longstanding ties to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, received special access to coronavirus testing last year as the first wave of the pandemic tore through New York and tests were severely limited.

The company requested tests from the state for its president, Dr. George Yancopoulos, and his family after a “member of his household became infected with COVID-19,” a company spokesperson said. State officials granted the request and tested the family at home in March.

By then, New York had become the epicenter of the pandemic, with a frightened populace confronted with a widespread shutdown in the face of a virus that little was known about.

On April 1, Cuomo announced that Regeneron would create 500,000 kits for testing samples and provide them free of charge to New York state. The company, which would eventually become a critical player in the efforts to lower the risk of hospitalization and death among high-risk COVID-19 patients, said Yancopoulos was not involved in the donation of the kits.

The unusual and preferential treatment granted to Yancopoulos was also extended to Cuomo’s relatives, including his mother, Matilda Cuomo, and brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, and at least one of his sisters, as well as other influential people, according to people with direct knowledge of the effort.

Revelations that the governor’s family and other influential people were given special access to state-run coronavirus tests early in the pandemic have drawn the interest of investigators in the New York state Assembly.

The judiciary committee of the Assembly has been looking into several allegations of sexual harassment made in recent weeks against Cuomo, as well as the manipulation by his senior staff of data related to nursing home deaths.

On Thursday, the chair of the committee, Assembly member Charles Lavine, said the preferential access for Cuomo’s family would become part of the inquiry.

The tests given to Yancopoulos and his family were the first known examples of the state offering the hardto-get tests to someone with business interests with the state.

It was not clear to whom Yancopoulos had reached out in the state government with his request for tests for his family.

“Dr. Yancopoulos has directly led the company’s ambitious and successful efforts to advance a groundbreaking therapy for this devastating pandemic,” said the company spokesperson, Hala Mirza. “As an essential worker, leading and meeting regularly with his research team, and to ensure Dr. Yancopoulos was not posing a risk to this team, Regeneron requested testing from the state for his household after a household member became infected with COVID-19.”

The samples of those given preferential access were taken at home, in some cases by top Health Department

officials, and rushed by state troopers to Wadsworth Center, the state-run lab in Albany, where staff were instructed to process the tests immediately, according to two people with knowledge of the effort. Results came back in hours.

Improper use of a government position by officials to obtain “privileges or exemptions” for themselves or others is prohibited by state law.

“Everything brought to the committee’s attention is going to be considered and investigated,” Lavine said in a brief interview with The New York Times.