The other victims of viv. have made the limelight

[Rainbow]

Take a look :sigh:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4813478.stm

When will they ever learn eh, hopefully this level of media attention will make some people think. It's terrible for the 6 men, but long term it may do some good. :yheart:

[thevegantwins]

I don't think many people have made the connection that animal testing just doesn't apply to humans. There have been so many drugs taken off the market in the US due to horrible side-effects that had been previously tested on animals but the drug companies have such amazing PR departments which, along with the US government, have done a tremendous job in convincing people that this particular incident (pick your drug) was isolated and unexpected even after rigorous testing.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs etc. are different than humans in many aspects (though not in the most important one, we are all sentient beings and all our lives should be respected)

[1vegan]

Take a look :sigh:
When will they ever learn eh, hopefully this level of media attention will make some people think. It's terrible for the 6 men, but long term it may do some good. :yheart:

"this level of media attention"

How's that level ? :)

It wasn't on dutch national radio news, and I haven't seen it on tv either (or yet).

I have the impression it doesn't get much coverage, it's on the main page for the BBC
(but it's national news,) for Google News, it's only the first thing in the health related news :(

I hope this wakes some people up in a way they realise that animal testing isn't the best way to predict results for humans.

I'm also partly afraid that it will call for more extensive new animal testing to prevent it from happening again ?

[Tiggerwoos]

Have posted my view on the website linked, will be interesting seeing as my post relates to animal rights and how unnecessary and unsafe animal testing is whether the moderator actually publishes it...... If it is, my name is under Tiggerwoos!

[Bowwowmeow]

I'm also partly afraid that it will call for more extensive new animal testing to prevent it from happening again ?
That's what I am afraid of, 1vegan. Everyone's going to ask why they didn't test it on even more animals before they gave it to people. :( As if that would have changed anything. But that's what most folks have been brainwashed into believing.

[1vegan]

I'm still sort of suprised by the lack of attention this got in the media...

it seems the condition on the test persons is slowly improving:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4820188.stm

and on the health section of the bbc, I found this :)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4817178.stm
Animal tests on the kind of drug given to the six men ill in a London hospital may not be the best way of evaluating the effects in people, an expert warns.

the rest is not so critical about animal testing, but at least they raise some questions.

[Rainbow]

Yeah they are hardly getting a mention now, by next week unless something drastic :eek: happens the UK audience will have forgotten! :crying:

[Kumem]

Being in the UK I have heard no mention of animal testing whatsover and it makes me sick. Shame for these ppl, but lets face facts, this happens to thousands of animals every day of the week. It's unbelievable that the connection hasn't been made. Animal testing does not work!!! FFS if this kind of thing does not make ppl sit up and think, what will? :sigh:

[Fauxmage]

British Clinical Trials Under New Scrutiny


By TARIQ PANJA (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
March 17, 2006 7:37 PM EST
LONDON - The first test in humans of a new drug to treat leukemia and autoimmune diseases has left six men severely ill, sparking fresh questions over the safety of such clinical trials.
Four of the men had regained consciousness Friday, doctors said, but two others were in critical condition with multiple organ failure.
The six previously healthy volunteers became seriously ill soon after taking TGN1412, a monoclonal antibody, on Monday in a trial run by Parexel International, based in Waltham, Mass. British regulators ordered an immediate suspension of the tests.
Thomas Hanke, the chief scientific officer of TeGenero AG of Wuerzburg, Germany, which developed the drug, said it had been tested on rabbits and monkeys with no "drug-related adverse events."
Raste Khan, one of two men given a placebo in the trial, said the six were stricken with vomiting and severe pain within minutes of receiving the drug.
"Everyone was continuously vomiting," Khan said in an interview broadcast Thursday on Sky News.
They were "fainting, coming back to consciousness. Again I assume they had headaches, because a lot of them were kind of like holding their heads." He said one man screamed and complained of pain in his back.
Experts in clinical trials said they were shocked at the extreme reactions and questioned why the six men were all given the drug at the same time.
Monoclonal antibodies such as TG1412 can be toxic, while not much is known about them, Martin Glennie, a specialist in monoclonal antibodies at Southampton University said Friday. He said it was unusual to give six subjects doses of the drug at the same time.
"I do not understand why they would give it to six volunteers all at once," he said.
Chris Hughes, director of the Medical Research Council in Britain, said: "It's very rare indeed. I have never come across anything like this, nor has anyone I have spoken to."
The eight volunteers were paid about $3,500 for what was to have been a two-week trial.
Parexel, the American company that administered the tests, insisted that correct procedures had been followed.
"An initial review at the site to date has shown that best practices were followed and all of the appropriate policies and procedures were adhered to," said Dr. Herman Scholtz, head of clinical pharmacology at Parexel.
"We are working with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency in the U.K. to review in detail all of the policies and procedures that were followed," Scholtz said.
Parexel spokeswoman Jill Baker said the tests followed the protocol agreed with the regulatory agency, which is responsible for authorizing clinical trials.
The agency said Friday that, after preliminary investigations, they found nothing to question their decision to grant Parexel permission to carry out the trial. It said the dose administered to the men was 500 times lower than the highest safe dose given to animals.
The agency authorizes around 1,100 clinical trials in Britain each year. Around 350 are Phase 1, or first-time tests on healthy humans.
Dr. Ganesh Suntharalingam, clinical director of the intensive care unit of London's Northwick Park Hospital, said the two men who were in critical condition had shown early signs of responding to treatment.
"Their condition remains very serious and complex, and it would not be sensible to comment on prognosis," he said Friday.
The other four remained in serious condition, Suntharalingam said. Some had made "noticeable progress" in response to treatment, but "it is early days and they will clearly need continued specialist observation for some considerable time," he said.
---
On the Net:
TeGenero AG: http://www.tegenero.com
Parexel International: http://www.parexel.com
Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency: http://www.mhra.gov.uk


Perhaps the story is slow in picking up steam. Maybe it will gather momentum.

[Tiggerwoos]

It may sound harsh, but I actually have little sympathy for these men as sad as it is, they were perfectly happy to have these drugs trialled on them knowing that animals had suffered for it. I've been shocked to hear on a few talk shows that people are now talking about doing more testing on animals to make it safer for humans so it has done our cause no favours. The mind boggles.:(

[Kumem]

It may sound harsh, but I actually have little sympathy for these men as sad as it is, they were perfectly happy to have these drugs trialled on them knowing that animals had suffered for it. I've been shocked to hear on a few talk shows that people are now talking about doing more testing on animals to make it safer for humans so it has done our cause no favours. The mind boggles.:(

Someone after my own heart. Wouldn't say that I feel little empathy for these people in public, but on here...

They got paid, they knew the risks...

Won't go any further, but animals...do they know? do they choose? do they get paid?

[Bowwowmeow]

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uncaged statement

Drug trial disaster demands urgent animal testing review

Government investigation's terms of reference must be widened

The report by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) that the TGN1412 monoclonal antibody trial disaster was not due to contamination or mis-dosing reinforces the urgent need for an independent review into the medical utility of animal testing.
TGN1412 had been tested in both rats and monkeys. The drug company in question, TeGenero, had mistakenly assumed that because the antibody reacted with both its human target protein and a similar protein in cynomolgus monkey cells, that tests in monkeys would predict human reactions. But despite the fact that the human doses were 500 times smaller than in the primate tests, a catastrophic chain reaction occurred in the human volunteers that was entirely unanticipated by the monkey tests.
The TGN1412 case demonstrates that even those animals claimed to be the "best" models give false reassurance regarding human safety. It also comes hard on the heels of the Vioxx disaster, the biggest in history, and the discovery that adverse drug reactions are our fourth leading cause of death: killing over 10,000 people a year in the UK and costing the NHS £466 million. There is a growing body of evidence indicating that animal research is a public health disaster, and that the practice serves the commercial interests of drug companies rather than the basic needs of patients for safe and effective medicines.
In its initial statements to the media, the MHRA admitted that animal tests had failed to predict the human reactions in this instance, and indicated the need for an investigation into their reliability. This position has been supported by many experts, including Dr David Glover, and formerly chief medical officer at Cambridge Antibody Technology. He has suggested looking at micro-testing - testing small amounts on people - as an alternative to animal testing for such drugs.
However, the review announced by Health Minister Lord Warner does not include the validity of animal testing for monoclonal antibody treatments in its terms of reference.
But it is surely incumbent on the government to reassess whether it is moral, and indeed legal to subject animals to painful, distressing and lethal experiments when the results are not applicable to humans. Unfortunately, it seems that the pro-vivisection posturing of the government is preventing it from conducting an open and honest assessment of animal testing, even in cases where its invalidity has been explicitly acknowledged.
It is vital that the government listens to the concerns of its own regulatory agency and scientific experts, and broadens its review of this horrific episode to consider the scientific and ethical validity of these animal tests.
Action

1. Contact Lord Warner at the Department of Health to ask him to include a review of scientific and ethical issues concerning the use of animals to test monoclonal antibody treatments.
Address: Department of Health
Richmond House
79 Whitehall
London SW1A 2NS
2. Write to your MP, asking them to raise this issue with Lord Warner. Click here (http://www.vote4animals.org.uk/search.htm) to find out who your MP is.
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