Drug Trials

[TinyGang]

\link{http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4808614.stm\This} is quite I suppose being a guinea pig will always carry an element of risk, but even so, poor men..

It's awful, isn't it? It really doesn't sound as though anyone was to blame, just something that was bound to happen sooner or later. I was amazed by how catastrophic it was though- the only two not in intensive care are the two who were given a placebo. Awful.

It is horrid isn't it? Poor men. Hope they somehow manage to pull through.

There is always a first time that a drug is used in humans and that will always be risky. That stage of clinical trials is always done on healthy , paid volenteers.

But horrific for them and their families.....and also for the people running the trial, they must feel so guilty

Pretty bad. The girlfriend is Australian. A bloke who makes a second career out of participating in drug trials says participants are usually S. African, Aussie or Kiwi men in the UK travelling.

I was at this story, it really is awful. I can't imagine anyone volunteering for drug trials now after this and presumably that could be a problem?

The woman's description of her boyfriend's condition sounds terrifying.

And since dh might one day need a drug like this......

But oh god, how awful

Yes, I thought that, wordgirl. I think it will be much harder to recruit people now.

When i was at uni, lots of students used to do it. Hope those poor people pull through.

There's always going to be someone willing to go for it for that kind of money. £2,500 for 3 days and 11 follow up visits. If you're here just travelling through, that's a lot of dosh.

I can only think that there must have been some terrible mix up either with dose or the formulation of the tablets. I imagine all the ingredients would have been tested & tested again before they were allowed anywhere near human volunteers.

The thing is you can never be 100% sure of what a safe dose is, until it has been tested in humans. 80% (or so) of all new drugs fail to get into humans, because they are shown to be toxic in animal trials. But you cannot be 100% sure, as there are still differences between the metabolism of humans and animals

R4 were interviewing a man earlier (can't remember his name) who was saying it is an altruistic thing to do, like giving blood but with more risk. God yes, how will they get people to do it now?

At this level of seriousness, yes. But there have been dugs withdrawn from trial due to toxic side effects.

And for that matter drugs withrawn from use due to toxic side effects.

Nothing is risk free sadly (I used to work in drug safety monitoring btw)

True, martian. There are plenty of drugs which have been approved for use which later proved to have very nasty - and in some cases, deadly - side effect. 'Fenfen' and fatal pulmonary hypertension, for example.

Not sure it's completely altruistic. Know someone who used to do this, did do it just for the money. Not criticising that, just saying that altruism isn't always the motive. Was also equally shocked by this.

Are all of them (including the two who took the placebo) in hospital?) This was the impression given on a radio bulletin

True, that said not being treated for things also has it's own risk.

Drugs are very well tested, and the CSM is very thorough when they grand licences etc.

But as with everything in life, there is risk

Out of interest, would these men (or their families) be able to take any legal action against the pharmaceutical company or will they have signed a disclaimer before taking part in the trials?

Expect not unless could show negligence?

Hmm, I don't know (though I'm sure mb does) but I would have thought they'd have signed away any rights they had. I wonder what would happen with life insurance, too? I bet that would be invalidated.

I hadn't even thought about life insurance...I guess it seems like easy money but it's really not, is it?