A CLAIM SHARED widely on social media falsely alleges that Dr Heiko von der Leyen, the husband of European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, is employed by a company which is owned by Pfizer.

It also suggests that Ursula von der Leyen’s connection to Pfizer through her husband was the reason why the European Union distributed millions of Covid-19 vaccines by the pharmaceutical company.

However, the claim is false and neither Heiko von der Leyen or his company have any professional connections to Pfizer.

The claim was first posted on 20 August 2022 by an account with the handle @Resist_05 on X, which has posted misinformation about vaccines and smears about Ursula von der Leyen on multiple occasions in the two years since.

“Von Ursula is married to the German doctor Heiko von der Leyen… who is director of Orgenesis, which is owned by Pfizer… the same company that Ursula signed a 71 billion euro contract with to buy an astronomical 4.6 billion doses (10 per citizen),” the original post stated.

The same account has re-shared this claim four times since the original post, most recently in a post on 17 July which has been viewed more than 1.7 million times on X.

Screenshots of the post have also been shared on other social media platforms, including on Facebook, where it has appeared in Irish-moderated groups.

The post is correct that Heiko von der Leyen is listed as a director of Orgenesis, a US biotechnology company which did benefit from EU money on two separate occasions – though not because of vaccine production.

However, the company researches cell and gene therapy and has nothing to do with Pfizer, which is not named as a shareholder of the company on the US stock exchange (where Orgenesis is listed).

There are no other credible news reports or research that links the two companies.

Like a lot of online misinformation, the claim about Heiko von der Leyen’s links to EU money leaned into some aspects of the truth as it created a falsehood that brought in Pfizer as well. 

Two years ago, eight MEPs pointed out that Orgenesis twice received European funding, including once on a project that Heiko von der Leyen oversaw.

That project was a gene and cell therapy project by an Italian subsidiary of Orgenesis that was supported by the EU.

Heiko von der Leyen was elected to sit on the supervisory board of the project after it received EU funding – but he resigned after Italian media reported on his involvement.

The eight MEPs also highlighted how a consortium led by MIDA Biotech, another Orgenesis subsidiary, received €4 million from the EU for a different research programme.

The MEPs asked Transparency Commissioner Věra Jourová to investigate Heiko von der Leyen’s involvement and any possible conflict of interest.  

Ultimately, Jourová found there was no conflict of interest in either case.

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