London - Six men were in a London hospital's intensive care unit on Wednesday after participating in trials of a new drug that were immediately suspended as Britain's health watchdog launched an investigation.

The men, who were all healthy, paid volunteers, were admitted to the Northwick Park hospital in northwest London on Tuesday night, a hospital spokesperson said.

Two of the men were in a "critical condition" while the other four were "serious but stable" in intensive care, she said. The BBC reported that they had suffered multiple organ failure................
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click...82B635&set_id=

__________________
Best regards<br />Ghazi<br /><a href="http://www.sph.homeoweb.net" target="_blank">www.sph.homeoweb.net</a>

I don't know the details of this one, but yes, that is the problem with ANY drug that has an effect. At some point you need to give it to somebody and see what happens. There is not a single drug in use, of any kind, where there has not been a first.

So, cynically, you might say that the trial did not go wrong. It just showed that the drug is dangerous.

Hans

__________________
<i>You have a right to your own opinion, but not to your own facts.</i>

The problem is the trial directors assume, what acts in laboratory animals would also act in humans. The result is mishaps like the one above or, still worse, withdrawal of the medicine after 3 to 5 years of its introduction when physicians come to know of its life-threatening effects. Remember rofecoxib (Vioxx) disaster?

Ghazi

__________________
Best regards<br />Ghazi<br /><a href="http://www.sph.homeoweb.net" target="_blank">www.sph.homeoweb.net</a>

Although this news coverage has been quite disturbing, it's worth remembering that it's incredibly rare for such things to occur in drug trials.
There are thousands of people taking part in countless medical trials all the time

__________________
Sam

**Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground**

An interesting article concerning the a.m. subject discusses a number of questions and asks in conclusion:
Have the standards of science and ethics both collapsed in the new ethos of the “knowledge economy” that promotes wealth creation above all else?


Full article can be found on The Institute of Science in Society website at http://www.i-sis.org.uk/LDTC.php

__________________
Best regards<br />Ghazi<br /><a href="http://www.sph.homeoweb.net" target="_blank">www.sph.homeoweb.net</a>

No, actually, that's a different problem. A serious side effect that is one in a thousand won't show up till you have thousands of users, which usually means after a drug has been released.

They don't just assume that the effect in animals is the same as in humans, but it is a simple fact that there HAS to be a first time for testing a drug in humans.

Hans

__________________
<i>You have a right to your own opinion, but not to your own facts.</i>

Just to add,

I have read in the UK internet news a couple of days ago that the one of the drug trial victims (of the drug trial mentioned in the beginning of this thread), the one who got the worst symptoms, I beleive, has been diagnosed with cancer the other day...