Profiting from insider clinical data

The Seattle Times ran a great package of stories yesterday that resulted from an investigation into how hedge funds obtain their cutting-edge information on clinical trials. The investigation found ?at least 26 cases in which doctors have leaked confidential and critical details of their ongoing drug research to Wall Street firms.? Such information is of incredible value to hedge funds, of course; if you?re a manager who bets enough money against a biotech stock because you?re the only one who knows that the company?s new compound is failing clinical trials, you?ve done very well for yourself.All of those doctors, it should be pointed out, have signed confidentiality agreements. If I have a criticism of the stories ? one shared by some other journalist colleagues who looked at the pieces ? it?s that there?s no ?smoking gun? that ties particular researchers to disclosure of particular data. Still, if the practice is...