Patient Left Brain Dead in French Drug Trial Dies Sunday January 17,2016

Drug trial participant dies, 5 others hospitalized in France

A French man in his 20s who volunteered to take part in a drug trial has died on Sunday January 17,2016 after serious side effects left him brain dead.

Five other men are still in hospital “in a stable condition”, but doctors fear three of them may have suffered irreversible brain damage.

The drug, which acted on the body’s neurological system and particularly pain and mood receptors, was undergoing a phase one trial on humans for the first time at a clinic near Rennes in north-west France The test was being carried out by the private research company Biotrial on behalf of the Portuguese pharmaceutical firm Bial.

The six men, aged between 28 and 49 and all in good health, were in the same trial group that began taking the drug on 7 January. Three days later, one of the volunteers felt unwell and was admitted to hospital, followed by the five others in subsequent days.