The worst-affected drug trial man

[Janh]

is going to lose at best some fingers and toes, at worst hands and feet

\link{http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/story_pages/news/news2.shtml\pictures here}

Hope to god he gets a shedload of money for the loss of the rest of his anticipated life.

I heard this whilst I was eating my breakfast.
The explanation of why it was better for him to wait for the digits to fall off than have them amputated made me gag on my porridge

unbelievable

Oh I'm glad I missed it at breakfast.

Maybe they'll repeat it at teatime.

Spagbog
I used to hang round a lot of hardcore climbers and high altitude mountaineers. Some had lost bits or all of their fingers or toes. It happens sometimes. But yeah, in such cases, it is better to let nature take its course and, in the words of the immortal Reinhold Messner, make sure the surgeon rounds off the tips.

his hands look pretty good. considering what he's been through.

Well so does his head, I'm amazed his ears are still there and still pink!

IMO he'll have to have bilateral below knee amputations and I think he will loose all his fingers at least. This is one of the worst cases of necrosis I've seen.

Yikes Flossam, below the knee? That poor man.

poor thing. agree with Janh, hope the drug company do the decent thing and make him a decent payment, rather than fend off with lawyers.

i cant bring myself to look at the pictures but when my dad was in ITU following an operation for lung cancer he was on quite high doses of drugs to keep his blood pressure up (dopemine and something else). HIs hands started developing purple patches which they assured us was ok and within a week his fingers were like charred sausages and his feet and legs up towards his knees. The smell was horrific

wouldn't he have signed something to do this trial?
I bet the company/lawyers play on that. He signed whatever and signed away his right to ££££££ if the worst happens.

Outrageous if that is teh case.

Nah, he'll lose half his foot unless he gets gangrene. If you can find 'em, look at pictures of Stephen Venables' hands and feet after he did the Kangshung face of Everest w/o supplemental oxygen - they were way worse. He's still got his legs, though.

my dads fingers/hands were worse and the state of his legs were worse too.

I sympathise with these men and have no doubt that they will receive a pay out to compensate them for the trauma they have suffered. I would even be so scinical as to say that these pay outs will be made public as the amount of compensation is bound to lead to an increase in people putting themselves forward for these trials. It has already been reported that the amount of people signing up for drug trials has increased signifficantly since this all happened, because before this, people just weren't aware that you got paid for doing drug trials. (money does strange things to people).

However, the reality is that these men signed up to trial a drug that had never previously been used on human beings, no one had any idea what effect these drugs might have on them, when they signed up, they would have been made aware that there could be adverse side effects to the drug, and they would have signed many forms to that effect, saying they were aware that they were trialling an as yet untried drug, that the side effects were as yet not known, and that they were aware that there could be an impact on their health. This is actually a very rare case, and although I have no doubt that the men will be more than adequately compensated for their trauma, the drug company do not have any obligation to do so. People sign up for trials for money, not because they want to help trial new drugs that could benefit others, in reality, it would have been greed that made most of these people sign up, for most people, the thought of trialling an unknown drug would make them run a mile, but for some, the lure of money is just too great.

I really hope he doesn't lose his fingers and toes - it's very sad.

I know it wouldn't help him in the way he'd like but I'd advise him to read Life and Limb by Jamie Andrew who lost his hands and feet in a climbing tragedy, it's a really uplifting story and he still climbs today.

They were being paid £2000 for taking the unknown risk. I think wannabe is right.

Not everyone who signs up for drug trials does so for money. 2k is not a huge amount when you consider the time taken and the potential risks.

Many people sign up for clinical trials because they do altruistically believe they will be supporting people to live healthier lives in the future. I am sure many people who contribute comments here will have close friends or relatives who has suffered or died from an illness.

Drug compaies are at the end of the day just staffed by people and I am absolutely sure (and really hope) that they are not sat there thinking how can we get out of this or can we make some great publicity out of this.

It is simply tragic and I feel for his girlfriend and family. God only knows what they must be going through

I did a drugs trial because it meant I would get 5 nights in a private ward after a tonsillectomy. Couldn't bear the thought of going home and having to cope with my two children the same day as the operation.
Fortunately, mine was only for painkillers & it was a phase 3 - so had already been tested on loads of other humans!
Having been through the process very recently, I do believe that everyone who signs up for a trial will be fully aware of the potential dangers involved. A phase one trial can be particularly risky but the drug company will lay this on the line. You have to take away and read loads of info before signing up & you are made fully aware that you can leave the trial at any time.
I feel very sorry for the men who have had such frightening & life threatening reactions to the trial drugs - but I honestly do believe that it is a risk you take. Afterall, even prescription drugs can have very severe side effects in a tiny percentage of people - including death in some cases.

Apparently the company that he went to was only insured for 2 million public liability, so that will have to be shared amongst them all. There is no more money than that- thats it. Finito.

Lots of people who I travelled with in the early 90's did this, epecially Auzzis/Kiwis and I am shocked that this has happened to this guy, but he will not have a hope in hell of getting loads of compensation as he signed a waiver.

In fact, the company who were trying to market this drug will probably go under as it was so risky.

People who refuse to allow drug testing on animals - hold your head in shame, the animal would have been put down by now. You cannot do that to a human.

Oh,wannabe!! - people engage in drug trails on the basis that they are negligible risk. Name one other recent drug trial where things have gone wrong - stumped now? (an unfortunate turn of phrase given the circumstances ); that's because everybody knows they don't carry side effects (apart from this one, that is...)

So I don't think there is any shared responsibility and the victims are entitled to shedloads of compensation

But hadn't the drugs already been tested on animals and passed the trials? I think this case proves that animal testing is not only unnecessary but also unreliable.

Apologies for my earlier post regarding the testing on animals. The drugs had been tested on animals.

Tegenero are still only insured for 2 million though and will go under as most of their backers will probably pull out now because of adverse publicity.

My Ds took part in a clinical trial for Botox injections for children with Cerebral palsy, it had been used for a few years on adults, but not on children. So I am quite proud that he has helped the hospitals know more about the benifits of Botox for Childhood Cerebral palsy.

I saw the pics in the paper of the man involved iwth this trial. It was shocking..