In March 2006, a PAREXEL-run trial on behalf of TeGenero, the now bankrupt German biotechnology firm, on its anti-inflammatory drug TGN1412 to treat rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis or leukaemia, unexpectedly caused severe inflammation and multiple organ failure in six healthy volunteers at a facility based at Northwick Park Hospital in London.
On December 7, 2006 the German business journal Handelsblatt as well as the Würzburger Zeitung reported that an investor from outside of Germany wants to buy TeGenero but wants to stay anonymous because of the recent negative press for TeGenero, the investor wants to keep all ten remaining employees.
TeGenero |
A documentary shown in the UK on 28 September 2006 featuring journalist Brian Deer as part of Channel 4's Dispatches series exposed uncertainty about the existence of data that should mandatorily have been submitted by TeGenero to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) prior to the trial indicating whether TGN1412 had been adequately tested on human blood in vitro.