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But did the Celebrex Guys Train There?

The Yale Herald reports on the completion of the Pfizer building in New Haven, where it is setting up shop to do an incredible amount of clinical research. Bob Levine and Samuel Gorovitz are quoted. The relationship with Yale promises to be, um, interesting:

THE CONSTRUCTION SITE OVERLOOKS the Yale Medical School, a neighbor which Pfizer is glad to have. In fact, the Medical School proved a tipping point in Pfizer's decision to build its new unit in New Haven.

Dr. Robert Alpern, Dean of the Medical School, expressed enthusiasm over collaborations between the institutions. "We're extremely excited about the opening of the unit in New Haven," he said. "Pfizer has a lot of talent, skills, and resources that Yale doesn't have, and vice versa, so we think we're actually in a position to help each other a lot" ...

And also, well, there are lots of really poor people in New Haven with not much to do, which prompts all sorts of interesting criticism

When Pfizer announced its plans in 2003, the initial reaction from the people of New Haven was mixed. The New Haven Advocate featured an article on its front cover, headlined, "Guinea Pig City." Written by Paul Bass, the article accused Pfizer of exploiting the inner city population of New Haven by offering volunteers high prices to take experimental drugs. Bass proposes that Pfizer allow community input on its ethical review boards.

Levine is point-blank about the risks of this cozy relationship: "'What if Pfizer says we want certain sorts of research done here? Are the review committees at Yale going to be intimidated? These people have already given us a $35 million building plus the funding, so we better do what they want,' said Levine. 'Even to a university with Yale's endowment, that's a pretty attractive thing.'"

Labels: clinical research, collaborations, deals with the devil, human guinea pigs, Pfizer, vulnerable subject populations, Yale