What Next? Body Parts?

The headline over David Willman's December 2004 investigation in the Los Angeles Times read: "Dr. P. Trey Sunderland III: $508,050 from Pfizer, but 'No Outside Positions to Note.'" A story that began as a failure to disclose gross conflicts of interest has now morphed, allegedly, into a profiteering scheme using human tissue samples drawn from vulnerable seniors.

According to a story out today, the House Energy and Commerce Committee unveiled a 26-page report accusing Sunderland of essentially selling Pfizer 3,000 NIH samples of human spinal fluid and plasma taken from patients with Alzheimer's disease. His price tag, according to press accounts? $285,000.

Sunderland's lawyer released a statement saying his client, who is still employed at NIH, "acted legally and ethically . . . There is no connection between his receiving funds from Pfizer and Pfizer's access to any tissue samples."