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FRANCE - PORTUGAL

France launches inquiries into drug-trial brain death tragedy

French police and health officials have launched three separate inquiries into drug trials that have left one person brain-dead and four others in serious danger. Investigators are looking into whether charges of involuntary injury should be brought and hope to establish whether the accident arose from a procedural error or the properties of the molecule being tested.

The Biotrial laboratory in Rennes on 15 January 2016
The Biotrial laboratory in Rennes on 15 January 2016 AFP
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Police arrived at the Biotrial laboratory in Rennes, western France, on Friday evening and inspectors from two government agencies, social affairs body Igas and medical safety watchdog ANSM, arrived on Saturday morning.

Although the worst-affected victim's symptoms first appeared on Sunday and the tests were stopped on Monday, the case was only made public on Friday and the inquiries launched after that.

The six men out of the 90-strong group who took the highest dose of the drug being tested were sent to hospital during the course of the week.

One is brain-dead, four are considered to be in danger of irreversible brain damage and one has shown no symptoms but has been kept in hospital for the moment.

The other guinea-pigs have been contacted by phone and have reported no symptoms but are being invited to undergo tests at the Rennes university hospital.

The Bia 10-2474 drug, produced by Portuguese company Bial, was being developed to tackle anxiety and motor disorders linked to neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinsons.

Biotrial, which was established in 1989 and employs 300 people, 200 of them in Rennes, is collaborating with the inquiry, as is Bial, which sent representatives to France on Saturday.

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