Science for Sale begins with a terminal cancer patient, Cindy Oliver (Kate Lardner), receiving an experimental genetically engineered treatment in the hospital and then wandering out and dying on the street. When others that she came into contact with also start falling ill and dying, Quincy (Jack Klugman) conducts the autopsies and makes the connection that a deadly virus has been created along with the treatment. When he learns that the experimental treatment has also been administered to others in a clinical trial, he implores them and the treating doctor, Paul Lynn (Lane Smith), to quarantine them so that others with weak immune systems are not infected and killed.
This is a pretty odd episode that addresses the potentially dangerous consequences and side effects of experimental genetic engineering treatments. There is no crime or mystery featured and Quincy takes a backseat throughout most of the story to Dr. Lynn who is put in the spotlight but really is not charismatic or interesting enough to carry the episode. Between that and the fact that there has been significant advances in the field since this episode first aired, it just comes across as very outdated. On a lighter note, I did enjoy the subplot of Dr. Asten (John S. Ragin) investing his savings into a speculative stock which didn't pan out and caused him to lose a chunk of money. While this was pretty out of character for the cautious doctor who would have more likely gone with an established and reliable stock that produced modest gains, it was still pretty amusing to watch.
Overall I would characterize this as a below average Quincy episode which does not feature a crime or an investigation but has a lot of debating over the welfare of patients and medical jargon being thrown around. This is not the worst of Season 8, but still not a good one either and I can't recommend.