Human guinea pigs disfigured by ‘Elephant Man drug trial’ tell of limb loss horror
Six men took part in 2006 drug trial which left them screaming in pain, organs failing, head swelling, projectile vomiting and amputation of fingers and feet
SIX men who suffered horrific side effects in a drugs trial that went wrong a decade ago have spoken out in a new documentary.
In March 2006 eight men volunteered to try a new drug that researchers hoped would manipulate the immune system and significantly improve cancer treatment.
Instead, after taking the TGN1412 drug, six men were left writhing and screaming in agony as their organs started to fail, their heads began to swell which led many to vomiting in the hospital ward.
Several of them also had to have different parts of their body amputated at Northwick Park Hospital, London, during the testing phase which was soon dubbed the ‘Elephant Man’ drug trials.
Ryan Wilson, who was 21 when the trial started, had to spend four months in hospital during which his fingers and sections of his feet were amputated.
He and the other participants, two received a placebo during the trial, still do not know what the long-term damage to their bodies will be.
The BBC documentary, due to be broadcast on Tuesday, is set to revisit the men who took part in the trial, the doctors who treated them and the investigators charged with discovering what went wrong.
The trial was carried out at a private unit in Northwick Park and was run by Parexel, an American medical products company, using men aged between 19 and 34.
It was a Phase 1 trial meaning these would be the first humans to try the TGN1412 drug which researchers had high expectations of following successful tests on monkeys.
Rob Oldfield, then 31 and recently returned from an acting course in LA, recalled: “A friend of mine had done trials and he said I should sign up. They were offering £2,000 and I thought that was ok.
“I was interested in the scientific contribution I could be making. It was a medicine being tested in a laboratory approved by the Government. What could go wrong?”
The Drug Trial: Emergency at the Hospital will be shown on BBC2 at 9pm on Tuesday, February 21
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