Doctor Links Merck Trial to His Demotion

By ALEX BERENSON

Published: December 10, 2005

Less than a week after his videotaped lambasting of Merck was played in a Houston federal courthouse, Dr. Eric Topol, a prominent cardiologist, has lost his title as chief academic officer of the Cleveland Clinic's medical college.

In the courthouse yesterday, jurors continued deliberating whether Merck's painkiller Vioxx had caused the death of a Florida main in 2001.