The Hindu : International : Efforts on to save lives of drug trial volunteers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 18, 2006

International

International

Efforts on to save lives of drug trial volunteers

Sarah Boseley and Jacqueline Maley

The new drug provoked massive inflammation in tissues and internal organs

London: Doctors in north-west London treating six young men who became seriously ill after taking part in a drug trial are consulting experts around the world to try to save their lives.

The novel nature of the drug TGN1412, which was being given to people for the first time and which provoked massive inflammation in their tissues and internal organs, means that no one has any direct medical experience to call on.

Patients on steroids

``The exact sequence of what's happening here is unique,'' said Ganesh Suntharalingam, clinical director of intensive care at Northwick Park hospital, in Harrow, north-west London, where the men are being treated.

The men are on organ support machines and receiving steroids to dampen down their immune systems.

The drug TGN1412 was being developed to treat immunological diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and certain cancers, said the makers, the German biotech firm TeGenero.

One of the two trial participants injected with a harmless placebo instead of the drug on Thursday gave a graphic account of the distress caused. ``The test ward turned into a living hell minutes after we were injected,'' said Raste Khan (23), a television technician who had signed up for the £2,330 fee for the trial. ``The men went down like dominoes. First they began tearing their shirts off complaining of fever, then some screamed out that their heads were going to explode. After that they started fainting, vomiting and writhing around in their beds.''

Myfanwy Marshall (35), the girlfriend of one of the two men in a critical condition, appealed for international medical help through Ann Alexander, a lawyer, and asked for TeGenero to apologise, and give ``full and proper disclosure'' on TGN1412.

— © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

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