Investigators of fatal drug trial ‘not given all the evidence’

Two months before the death of a volunteer in a clinical trial another volunteer suffered a minor stroke after taking a lower dose of the drug, but the authorities investigating the trial were not told, a French newspaper has reported.

On 12 May, Le Figaro published a brain scan said to be of a man who had been a volunteer in an early phase of the clinical trial in Rennes in November. The scan shows evidence of bleeding in the cerebellum, an area of the brain.

The newspaper said that the scan on “Pierre”—not his real name—had been undertaken at Rennes University Hospital in January, as had been done for all 90 volunteers involved in earlier phases of the trial after the death of volunteer Guillaume Molinet on 17 January.