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Thread: Drug Trial Disaster!

  1. #1

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    Default A clear example of why animal testing is of little human value

    There are currently a number of people in intensive care in London after taking an anti-inflammatory drug as part of a human trial. All of the volunteers were in sound health and the drugs had firstly been tested on animals with no recorded serious side effects. This case reinforces the argument against animal testing on the grounds that the constitution of laboratory animals is so much different to our own. Lets hope the victims of this trial go on to make a full recovery.

    Check out the story here:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...on/4808836.stm
    Don't blame me for avian flu :(

  2. #2

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    Default Re: A clear example of why animal testing is of little human value

    This type of testing also points out another problem. When human tests are done, the subjects are young healthy people (and usually male). However, the consumers of drugs are often older and not healthy. Therefore the doses given to older patients are many times too high and cause too many side effects.
    Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. - Albert Einstein

  3. #3
    Hemlock's Avatar
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    Unhappy Drug Trial Disaster!

    From the BBC news today. Well this drug that had previously been rigorously tested on animals obviously doesn't have the same effect on humans does it? Who's going to be the first to say,"I TOLD YOU SO". One of these men could die at any time This is the story:

    Six men remain in intensive care after they were taken ill during a clinical drugs test in north-west London.
    The healthy volunteers had been given an anti-inflammatory drug at a private research unit based at Northwick Park Hospital when they suffered a reaction.

    Myfanwy Marshall told BBC News her boyfriend's body was badly swollen and his organs were failing.

    An investigation has begun at the unit, run by Parexel, which said it followed recommended guidelines in its trial.

    The young men were being paid to take part in the early stages of a trial for the drug TGN1412 which is designed to treat conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and leukaemia.

    But within hours of taking it on Monday, six volunteers had to be admitted to intensive care - a further two had been given a placebo.

    This is not leukaemia, this is not pneumonia, this is not something they know how to deal with
    Myfanwy Marshall

    'He needs a miracle'

    Northwick Park Hospital's intensive care director Ganesh Suntharalingam said two were in a critical condition, and the other four were serious but showing some signs of improvement.

    He added his team had been doing everything possible in this "unique set of circumstances".

    "The drug, which is untested and therefore unused by doctors, has caused an inflammatory response which affects some organs of the body," he said.

    Ms Marshall, 35, whose boyfriend is critically ill, said the normally healthy 28-year-old barman's face was so puffed, he "looks like the Elephant Man".

    She said: "His friends cannot even face seeing him. I have to stay there because I'm looking beyond all the wires and the puffiness.

    "This is not leukaemia, this is not pneumonia, this is not something they know how to deal with."


    Such an adverse drug reaction occurs extremely rarely and this is an unfortunate and unusual situation
    Professor Herman Scholtz, Parexel

    Q&A: Drug trials
    Send us your experiences

    The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) immediately withdrew authorisation for the trial and an international warning was sent out to prevent the drug from being tested abroad.

    MHRA inspectors have visited the independent research unit and are in talks with the local strategic health authority, the Department of Health and police about the cases.

    Its chief executive Professor Kent Woods said: "Our immediate priority has been to ensure that no further patients are harmed.

    "We will now undertake an exhaustive investigation to determine the cause and ensure all appropriate actions are taken."

    It had approved the trial and the drug had already been tested on animals.

    Volunteers are paid up to £150 a day to take part in clinical trials.

    'Swift response'

    Parexel, which was running the trial, said it had followed guidelines and such cases were extremely rare.

    The Medical Research Council said that while it was "an unfortunate and extremely rare event", such clinical trials were essential for the development of new and better treatments.

    Professor Herman Scholtz, from Parexel, said: "When the adverse drug reaction occurred, the Parexel clinical pharmacology medical team responded swiftly to stop the study procedures immediately.

    "Such an adverse drug reaction occurs extremely rarely and this is an unfortunate and unusual situation. We did everything possible to get the patients treated as quickly as possible."

    TeGenero, the Germany-based manufacturers of the drug, said the events were completely unexpected and did not reflect results from initial laboratory studies.

    Health secretary Patricia Hewitt said: "It is a shocking event and obviously our thoughts are with those young people and with their families.
    Silent but deadly :p

  4. #4
    frugivorous aubergine's Avatar
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    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    It is truly awful. I'm sort of relieved to hear that it was tested on Animals, because I was expecting a backlash of pro-vivi propaganda to start any time soon. That would have been unhelpful and tasteless.

    I really wish them well.

  5. #5
    Hemlock's Avatar
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    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    On the radio just now - one of them is dead, a young university student
    Silent but deadly :p

  6. #6
    Kevster
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    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    Quote spjessop
    It is truly awful. I'm sort of relieved to hear that it was tested on Animals, because I was expecting a backlash of pro-vivi propaganda to start any time soon. That would have been unhelpful and tasteless.
    You may well get the backlash, because previous examples point to the 'need' to test more thoroughly on other species first...

    The PR departments will be in overdrive.

    Though, it is sad to hear someone died because of drug testing. The whole area of pharmaceuticals needs to be examined far more closely, because of the dangers involved, and we don't really know how many people suffer adverse effects from these tests? And if other people have died as a result?

  7. #7
    saucyvegan
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    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    Quote Hemlock
    On the radio just now - one of them is dead, a young university student
    OMG one of them has died? Hmmmm!!!
    Im kind of thinking that the pro-viv group just set up in Oxford to say "build the animal lab" have done us a favour. Would they have printed the stuff about the animal testing before I wonder? Its so much in the news now and I cant help but wonder if thats cos the "academics" have come out.

    Kev ur so right about the PR of the pro side working overtime now. Scary times!

  8. #8

    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    The company that made and is testing the drug is Paraxel.

    "The clinical trial was performed by the research organization, Parexel International, based in Waltham, Mass., which "adhered to standard clinical research guidelines," said Dr. Thomas Hanke, the company's chief scientific officer.

    Parexel International has a clinical pharmacology research unit at the hospital.

    "Such an adverse drug reaction occurs extremely rarely and this is an unfortunate and unusual situation," said Dr. Herman Scholtz, head of Parexel International Clinical Pharmacology.

    The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, which ordered the tests suspended, said the six were the only people given the drug in a small trial. Two other subjects received placebos.
    "Our immediate priority has been to ensure that no further patients are harmed," said Kent Woods, the agency's chief executive officer. "We will now undertake an exhaustive investigation to determine the cause and ensure all appropriate actions are taken."

  9. #9

    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!


  10. #10
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    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    It's just awful.

    I know for a fact that pharma is worried about the publicity -- you're right that the PR will be stepped up now. The results of the MHRA investigation will be critical for how that's handled (e.g. will the claim be that it was a dosage error? contamination? or actually that the animal physiology WAS a poor model for the human effects?) In the meantime the only good thing that's come out of it is that people I've been talking to today, who probably never thought about this kind of thing too much before, have been starting to wonder about issues such as how well animal models work, and why the trial participants are young healthy males even though these are generally not the intented final recipients (as you point out DianeVegan). It's a start at least.

    But it's dreadful to hear that one of them has died now.

  11. #11
    Kevster
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    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    The BBC/The Guardian/Skynews hasn't reported that anyone has died as a result of these tests.

    Two people are critically ill and four people are in a serious condition

  12. #12
    sugarmouse
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    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    i jsu caught the last part on the news.so it had been tested on animals with no serious side effects had it.hmmm.
    no sympathy for the devil in my eyes.i jus hope someone makes note.

  13. #13
    scruffyhead's Avatar
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    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    These people had a choice! animals dont! so in my eyes it will help make people understand more about what is going on and maybe some good will come out of all this!? I read these people where payed £2000 each to gamble with their lives, obviously the gamble hasnt payed off..

  14. #14

    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    I like the Sky Poll on Sky News this morning -
    'Should drug testing be banned on humans?'
    It's already tested on animals. What the hell do they think they're going to test it on next?
    The animal testing question hasn't even come up on Sky News as far as I've seen. You can bet if the shoe was on the other foot some pro-vivisection person would have jumped on this one. Absurd media bias.
    They look like the elephant man by all accounts. "I am not an animal". Amen to that.

  15. #15
    Geoff
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    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    Someone from the AMA said this morning that the drug(s) had been tested on 'non humans!' It sounds SO much better than saying that they were tested on animals doesn't it.
    My mother died in Northwick Park Hospital. (It's OK - she was 90)
    And, a bit of trivia, when Sybil Fawlty goes into hospital for an ingrown toenail op, from her Torquay hotel, the hospital is Northwick Park!

  16. #16
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    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    On GMTV this morning they were interviewing some guy from the pharmaceutical industry. Fiona said that these adverse reactions must sometimes happen to animals being tested on and asked him if animals suffer the same way. He just skirted around the question by saying that animal testing is law and if we didn't there would be a lot more incidents of adverse reactions in humans.

    I have heard no mention of anyone dying either so if it is true it looks like they're trying to cover it up. Theres so much deception in the vivisection industry. I just hope some good will come of all this and people will start questioning the validity of vivisection. If this could bring about the independent scientific study that Tony Blair had originally promised, that would be wonderful.

  17. #17

    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    I'd love to believe that this will change things......but I really don't believe that it will. It is being reported heavily in the news at the moment, but in a couple of weeks time people will start to forget about it, and things will carry on as they have been for years. Maybe I'm too cynical, but I've been involved in animals rights for over 20 years now, and not a lot has changed in that time. All we can do is carry on spreading the word and educate more and more people to the horrors of animal testing....one day our time will come, but 6 people suffering adverse reactions to a drug won't change much at all.

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  18. #18

    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    Ok maybe I am a little out of line but, here goes. Seems to me that the testing done is done on the helpless or near helpless. 1st the animals who have no say at all (btw - one dog died during the testing that I've been able to find out about so far) and then the poor. Why else would someone gamble with their health for money? Just the way I see it.

  19. #19
    Kevster
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    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    Oh here we go, from a paper that crusades for vivisection like the Daily Mail crusades against asylum seekers:

    'We need animal experiments

    What really happened at Northwick Park Hospital and why it happened is one for the experts. The episode looks like a gift for those who claim that animal experiments are not only cruel but pointless. It is no such thing. [...]'

    But actually after that opening paragraph it's pretty interesting, and lays a good case for far more careful human tests, and doesn't justify animal testing at all, in fact by saying that 'The fact is that biochemistry is tricky and human biochemistry is hugely complicated: by differences in genetic inheritance, in environment and diet, in gender, age, fitness and cultural expectation.' It really blows the whole debate open.

    Animal testing is just a quick way to get drugs through legal loopholes and help to declare them 'safe'. It's irrelevant, and you can't tell whether effects of a drug on non humans wil be the same on humans, you can't even tell if a drug will have the same effect on two different people, there'll only be a 'likelihood', and it's clear that people seriously need to think about what's involved in drug development, and how it can be improved. You don't need to be an Oxford Don to work that one out; in fact, you can't be an Oxford Don to work that one out.

    http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/...periments.html

  20. #20
    Kevster
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    [...] 'A solicitor representing one man said it was not clear if successful animal tests had been previously held.

    Ann Alexander, whose 29-year-old client is on a life support machine, said: "There is confusion about whether the drug had actually been tested successfully and safely on animals before the tests on these volunteers."

    She said the "problem" needed to be "investigated urgently".' [...]

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4813478.stm

  21. #21

    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    Were these people forced to sign a release so that no one could be sued in case something went wrong? If so in the UK would something like that hold up in a court of law?

  22. #22
    Geoff
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    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    Wouldn't the people who volunteer for such tests be suffering from the condition the drug is designed to cure and hoping for some relief?

  23. #23
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    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    Quote Geoff
    Wouldn't the people who volunteer for such tests be suffering from the condition the drug is designed to cure and hoping for some relief?
    No, they test them for side effects on healthy people first. Mostly young males (women capable of childbearing are not allowed in case they may be unknowingly pregnant)
    After that they are then tested on people with the condition that they are designed for to test efectiveness.
    "Danger" could be my middle name … but it's "John"

  24. #24

    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    This is an account by someone who was recently a test subject there, he says they are mostly young men. http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/s...731844,00.html

    In fact I am told a lot of medical knowledge isn't very accurate because it is based on studying only (young) men.

  25. #25
    tabitha
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    I have no original comments to make on this thread except to say how horrific I think it is. It is the stuff of nightmares. For animals and humans alike

  26. #26

    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    this one's about how the test subjects are desperate for money http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/mortarbo..._are_they.html

    anyone see the film The Constant Gardener?

  27. #27

    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    Tim Radford, the Shite-ian (see other thread by that name!) Science editor is pulling the trick of assuming science is some objective framework we all agree on except a few freaky ignoramuses. These people always say we "need" cures so we "need" animal experiments. Ok, so we also "need" nuclear and chemical and biological weapons, and no scientist should question whether it is ethical to produce them...

    Looks like he invited his friends to put comments under his blog, here's what one said about someone who is agains animal "experiments":
    "Animal experimentation is not without its limitations, but it's still vital - unless you equate human lives with animals, in which case there's something wrong with you that no drug will cure."

  28. #28

    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    OK my last post on this before bed, it seems this is a new type of biotech drug, genetically engineered and much more risky http://society.guardian.co.uk/health...732002,00.html

  29. #29
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    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    On the news earlier it was mentioned a couple of times that mabye more testing on animals is whats needed!
    Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty!

  30. #30
    Geoff
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    Quote applecrumble
    In fact I am told a lot of medical knowledge isn't very accurate because it is based on studying only (young) men.
    Tell me about it. I've been 'studying' young women for decades and it hasn't furthered my knowledge one bit!

  31. #31
    Gliondrach
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    I heard someone defending the use of lab animals in research, who said that they start off with microdoses and then increase the dose until it becomes toxic to the animals. The thought that should have struck listeners was that the animal tests in this case obviously didn't predict these effects. As they don't in most drugs.

    It can never be known in advance, despite tests on lab animals, how a new drug will affect the first humans to test it.

  32. #32

    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    A related point (possibly an obvious one) -
    Those who practice violence and intimidation against vivisectionists enable the media and therefore the public to lazily typecast all anti-vivisectionists as extremists/terrorists and therefore discount our viewpoints.
    I think it is partly thanks to the violent fringes of the anti-vivisection movement that no-one is listening.

  33. #33
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    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    Quote Jane M
    Were these people forced to sign a release so that no one could be sued in case something went wrong? If so in the UK would something like that hold up in a court of law?
    Contract is one of the oldest and most fundamental principals of English Law, so probably yes.

  34. #34
    feral
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    I think sometimes a court can overthrow a contract if the information was deemed to be misleading or the side effects were skimmed over in an attempt to get people to participate... not all contracts are water tight.

  35. #35
    Geoff
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    I don't think that any contract can absolve someone from a duty of care.
    We do still have some inalienable basic rights, I think.

  36. #36
    Kevster
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    'Drug trial man's fury at ordeal

    One of six men who fell seriously ill after a drug trial said he and the others are "furious" about the ordeal.

    Mohamed Abdelhady, 28, told the Daily Mail and Daily Mirror that his head swelled so much his fiancée said he looked like the Elephant Man. [...]'

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4866974.stm

  37. #37
    veggiewoman
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    did anybody see hte BBC 6o'clock news tonight - 5th April?
    They were discussing it all there and how the monkeys were given adose 500times stronger than that given to the humans etc.
    It def was interesting to watch.
    It was the first subject on the news so it may be repeated later tonight on their 10pm news.

    In the meantime I came across this newsround discussion about animal testing!!!!

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/ne...00/2149767.stm

  38. #38
    Kevster
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    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    Unfortunate they didn't get some comment from Europeans for Medical Progress:

    'Drugs research in chaos as inquiry finds no reason for failure of trials
    By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor
    Published: 06 April 2006

    The world of medical research has been thrown into chaos after an inquiry into a drug trial that went wrong concluded the problems had occurred because of an unexpected pharmacological reaction in humans.

    The trial of the drug, TG1412, carried out in a private testing facility at Northwick Park hospital, London, last month, left six human volunteers in intensive care fighting for their lives. All six experienced severe reactions within minutes of taking the drug including fever, swelling and vomiting.

    The inquiry by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which is responsible for drug safety in Britain, found there was no human error involved in the manufacture, preparation or dose of the drug. [...]

    Although it was given to the six human volunteers in a dose 500 times lower than that previously used on monkeys without ill effects, the drug triggered a life-threatening immune response in the volunteers.[...]'

    http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/hea...icle356019.ece

  39. #39
    saucyvegan
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    ANIMAL TESTS UNABLE TO PREDICT DRUG SAFETY
    The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has announced its interim findings into the catastrophic drug safety trial which left six healthy volunteers fighting for their lives. They found no human error in any part of the protocol, leaving the only explanation that there was clearly a “substantial difference in the preclinical [animal] and clinical effects of this product”.

    The MHRA, along with TeGenero, the company that developed TGN1412, reiterated that “Even in hindsight, we can see no evidence of any such adverse reactions from the preclinical studies. The doses given to the humans in the trial were diluted by 500 times – a substantially lower dose than that given to non-human primates, which didn’t show ill effects.”

    In other words, the “powerful pharmacological effect of the product in humans” was entirely unpredicted by the animal studies, on whose assurance of safety the decision to proceed to clinical trials was based. Clearly, the animal tests created a false sense of security – and not for the first time: recently withdrawn arthritis drug Vioxx was shown to be safe and even beneficial to animal's hearts but caused as many as 320,000 heart attacks and strokes in people (140,000 of them fatal) – the biggest drug disaster in history. Shockingly, adverse reactions to prescription medicines (all tested for safety on animals) are now the fourth leading cause of death in the western world.

    New human-based safety tests before and during clinical trials (such as microdosing, human tissue tests, human DNA chips and microfluidics) could prevent many of these deaths - and could have averted these two recent calamities. Clearly, an assessment needs to be made of the relative performance of the various methods of safety testing available. Substantial evidence exists that animal tests are inadequate for the task but - incredibly - this has never been systematically investigated. The only responsible course of action is to evaluate animal testing scientifically, in an independent and transparent manner.

    Europeans for Medical Progress is now calling for an independent and transparent scientific evaluation of the use of animals as surrogate humans in drug safety testing. Over 200 MPs support this call, which is made in Early Day Motion 92, whose wording is below.


    TeGenero said yesterday that this incident “challenges all of us in the biotechnology industry to think again about the safest way to develop new medicines in the future.” The Government must rise to the challenge too and accept that our outmoded regulatory requirements for new drugs need an overhaul.

    Says Science Director of Europeans for Medical Progress, Dr Jarrod Bailey, "Significant numbers of people die in clinical trials because there is often no prior information on safety in humans - only dubious reassurances of safety in animals, which we should know by now mean very little. A comparison of testing methods has to be an urgent priority: people's lives are at stake. The Government must act now to protect the public from another TGN1412 or Vioxx in future."

  40. #40
    saucyvegan
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    Sorry, forgot to put.....above is the press release from Europeans For Medical Progress!

  41. #41
    Kevster
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    'Uncaged statement

    Drug trial disaster demands urgent animal testing review
    Government investigation's terms of reference must be widened

    The report by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) that the TGN1412 monoclonal antibody trial disaster was not due to contamination or mis-dosing reinforces the urgent need for an independent review into the medical utility of animal testing. [...]'

    http://www.uncaged.co.uk/news/2006/tgn1412.htm

  42. #42
    veggiewoman
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    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4989810.stm


    Doubt cast over drug trial safety

    By Pallab Ghosh
    BBC News science correspondent



    Trial took place in north London

    The adverse side effects that occurred in a drug trial that hospitalised six healthy volunteers could have been predicted, experts have told the BBC.
    They said there was enough worrying evidence in the scientific literature on the effects of the kind of drug that was tried out to ring alarm bells.
    More tests should have been carried out before trying it out on people for the first time, they argue.
    TeGenero, the makers of the drug, have dismissed the claims.
    The drug trial took place at London's Northwick Park Hospital in March.
    The six volunteers had a severe reaction to the monoclonal antibody TGN1412. Several ended up in a critical condition.
    I believe from the basic science it was predictable


    Dr David Glover

    An interim report by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) - which gave the trial the go ahead - said the reaction was unpredicted.
    Dr David Glover is a member of an industry task force set up to investigate how trials of this kind should be carried out in the future.
    He is one of a number of experts that have decided to speak out for the first time, to detail their concerns about the events leading up to the accident.
    Potential for danger
    He told the BBC Radio 4 PM programme: "It may be that it was unpredicted by the tests that were done. I believe from the basic science it was predictable."
    Professor Greg Winter, of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, was a key figure in the first development of monoclonal antibodies 20 years ago.
    My view is that if there is a 0.1% chance of it happening that is unacceptable for a healthy volunteer


    Dr Andrew Millar


    He said those testing TGN1412 might have been lulled into a false sense of security by the fact that it did not seem to harm monkeys - but it was wrong to make too many assumptions based on animal experiments.
    Tests of the drug had the potential to go wrong because it was known to stimulate the immune system, and there had to be a possibility of triggering an uncontrolled chain reaction.
    Professor Winter said: "I'm not saying that these experiments shouldn't be done but I'm saying that one should have started from the principle that this was probably rather more dangerous - in fact a lot more dangerous - than the typical experiments which are done with antibodies in clinical trials.
    "If anything, I would have expected to see the kind of response those patients had."
    Tiny doses
    Drug manufacturers TeGenero said in its application to do the trial that this effect had not been seen in monkeys.
    It planned to give the volunteers a dose 500 times smaller than that given to the animals.
    Regulators accepted that this would provide an "adequate safety margin".
    But industry consultant Dr Andrew Millar said the theoretical risk meant more care should have been taken.
    "My view is that if there is a 0.1% chance of it happening that is unacceptable for a healthy volunteer."
    The drugs firm AstraZeneca is also developing drugs of this kind.
    Harsuk Parmer, its director of discovery medicines, said the company carried out a wider range of tests than normal before proceeding to human trials when working with monoclonal antibodies.
    Even then the first step they take is to put ultra low concentrations just under their skin rather than straight into the blood stream.
    A report by the Academy of Medical Sciences also suggests there was evidence that the trial was potentially risky.
    Too simple
    In a statement, TeGenero said it was an "oversimplification" to suggest that the side effects could have been predicted in advance.
    It had carried out experiments that showed that the drug behaved the same in monkeys and humans.
    This was closely scrutinised by the German Regulators prior to approval. That and additional information was passed on to the MHRA.
    However, Dr Glover said details of the experiments were being kept out of the public domain by the MHRA for reasons of commercial confidentiality.
    He questioned that decision, and said sharing information would aid the formulation of guidelines about appropriate starting doses in human trials.
    Dr Parmar questioned whether the MHRA had the expertise to properly judge applications to test drugs such TGN1412. The MHRA said it had re-reviewed the data and even with the benefit of hindsight could see nothing that could have predicted these effects in humans.

  43. #43
    gertvegan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    Dispatches covers it.

    The drug trial that went wrong, Channel Four, 9.00-10.00, Thursday 28th September.

  44. #44
    veggiewoman
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    thanks for letting us know

  45. #45
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    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    I'm a member of an organisation that does its best to inform people that there ARE viable alternatives to animal experimentation.

    Unfortunately, I think because it's been the norm for so long to test new drugs on unfortunate creatures, people seem to assume it's the only way.

    We're the ones who "benefit" from them, they should be tested on human beings.

  46. #46
    frugivorous aubergine's Avatar
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    Jul 2005
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    Default Re: Drug Trial Disaster!

    Hopefully they'll point out that those drugs were animal tested, and it didn't make the slightest bit of difference.

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