Seattle Times follows the interesting twist on the story of Cleveland Clinic’s top doc Eric Topol. Topol was accused, more or less, of conflict of interest in December, as we noted in this blog on the 5th of that month. Specifically, it was alleged that he advised a hedge fund (for a fee) about concerns about a drug in which it invested, and about which he had written.
As a result of the allegations, Topol was, it is fair to say, lambasted in the media as an example of docs being bought out by investment firms and pharma.
Topol’s reaction? Well according to the Seattle times story, Topol promptly published on the matter – but not defending himself. Instead, he did a quick study that showed how frequent the behavior has become. Hmm. Everybody’s doing it.