Man brain dead, 5 others hospitalized in French drug trial

PARIS (AP) — One man was brain dead and three others faced possible permanent brain damage after volunteering to take part in a drug trial for a painkiller based on a natural brain compound similar to the active ingredient in marijuana, French authorities said Friday.

The Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation into what French Health Minister Marisol Touraine called "an accident of exceptional gravity" at a clinical trial lab in the western French city of Rennes.

The trial involved 90 healthy volunteers who were given the experimental drug in varying doses at different times, she told reporters at a news conference in Rennes.

Six male volunteers between 28 and 49 years old have since been hospitalized, including one man now classified as brain dead, Touraine said, adding that the other 83 volunteers were being contacted.

Calling the case "unprecedented," Touraine said she was "deeply moved" by the suffering of the victims, who she met with earlier Friday, along with their families. "We'll do everything to understand what happened," she said. "I don't know of any other event like this."

The drug trial for the six hospitalized men began on Jan. 7 and was halted Monday, a day after the first volunteer fell ill.

The chief neuroscientist at the hospital in Rennes, Dr. Gilles Edan, said in addition to the brain-dead man, three other men could have "irreversible" brain damage. Afifth man is suffering from neurological problems and a sixth man is being kept in the hospital but is in less critical condition, he said.

Edan said there's no known way to reverse the effects of the experimental drug, which was given orally to healthy volunteers as part of a Phase 1 trial by Biotrial, a drug evaluation company based in Rennes, on behalf of the Portuguese pharmaceutical company Bial.

Touraine said that in addition to treating pain, the drug was intended to ease mood and anxiety troubles as well as motor problems linked to neurodegenerative illnesses by acting on the endocannabinoid system. In this system, natural brain compounds act on specific receptors to exert their effects. The experimental drug is based on a natural brain compound similar to the active ingredient in marijuana.

Touraine said the drug was not based on marijuana itself, as some media reports had claimed.