It’s a wonder they can talk at all, given their mouths are so stuffed with industry gold. Somehow, though, they manage it, and often to great effect.

Opinion leaders are megastars of the medical world. Groomed, pampered, and promoted by drug companies, they are the role models whose views are to be taken seriously.

Such individuals are part of an elaborate game that supposedly ensures “transparency” about the relationships between doctors and their industry paymasters. The declarations of competing interests so …