REZULIN: Congressman Wants Answers

      Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), the ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, is asking why one of the government's top researchers was supervising clinical trials of the diabetes drug Rezulin while moonlighting for its manufacturer. The alleged conflict of interest, reported earlier this week in the Los Angeles Times, prompted Waxman to fire off a letter to Dr. Harold Varmus, director of the National Institutes of Health, in search of answers. "The issues ... are serious and implicate the health and safety of the participants of the (NIH) trial, as well as Americans with diabetes," wrote Waxman, who said he expects a response within two weeks. Waxman is eager to "clear up any questions" about possible improprieties between the researcher, Dr. Richard Eastman, and Rezulin manufacturer Warner-Lambert Co., because the government's largest-ever "diabetes prevention study is very important" (Willman, Los Angeles Times, 12/9).