Dr. Fishbein’s questioning about Dr. Fauci’s patents tripped NIH into DEFCON 1. “All sorts of alarms went off,” recalls Dr. Fishbein. “I came into government very naive. At the very least, I assumed that since Dr. Fauci wanted me to make sure studies were properly done, safety came first and that the participants were protected,” he laughed. “I was wrong.” He recounts that he had met Dr. Fauci only once—at the interview when Dr. Fauci hired him as NIAID’s chief ethical and regulatory compliance officer. Dr. Fishbein recalls Dr. Fauci’s earnestness: “This is an important job. If you come across
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