1 Person Left Brain Dead After Clinical Trial Of Experimental Medicine In France (UPDATE)

PARIS, Jan 15 (Reuters) - One person has been left brain dead and five others have been hospitalized after taking part in a clinical trial in France of an experimental drug made by Portuguese drug company Bial, French Health Minister Marisol Touraine said on Friday. In total, 90 people have taken part in the trial, taking some dosage of the drug aimed at tackling mood and anxiety issues, as well as movement coordination disorders linked to neurological issues, Touraine said. The six men aged 28 to 49 had been in good health until taking the oral medication at the Biotrial private facility that specializes in clinical trials, she said. "This is unprecedented," Touraine told a news conference after meeting volunteers and their families in Rennes, western France. "We'll do everything to understand what happened." The French health ministry said that the drug involved in the trial did not contain cannabis. A person familiar with the situation had earlier claimed the drug was a cannabis-based painkiller in the initial stage of human testing. Prosecutors have opened an investigation into the case. The six men started taking the drug on Jan. 7. The brain-dead volunteer was admitted to hospital on Monday, the minister said. For three of the five others - who went in on Wednesday and Thursday - there are fears of irreversible handicap, doctor Gilles Edan said, though he still hoped that would not be the case. One of the six had no symptoms but was being carefully monitored, he sa...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news