More than two years ago, University of Wisconsin-Madison doctor James Gern approached the pharmaceutical giant Merck with a proposal for an unusual human experiment.
The university would find people in the Madison area with asthma, deliberately infect them with cold viruses and give them the Merck asthma drug montelukast to see if it lessened their symptoms.
From 2003 through 2007, Gern, a professor of pediatrics and an allergy and asthma specialist, has been a regular speaker and consultant for Merck, putting in 28 days of work and making between $35,000 and $70,000.