‘If I’d known he was taking part in the trials I would have stopped him’

THE aunt of the Irishman fighting for his life in a British hospital after taking part in a drug trial said she would have tried to prevent him from taking part in the experiment.

Dolores Flanagan yesterday said that she did not know her nephew, Ryan Wilson, was due to take part in tests being carried out by a medical research firm in London when she spoke to him last Sunday.

“If I had known he was taking part in those trials, I would have stopped him. If I’d known he was going to have such a terrible reaction, I would have said ‘Don’t you dare’.”

Ryan, aged 21, remained in critical condition last night, although doctors at Northwick Park Hospital said that he and another patient had shown early signs of responding to treatment.

Four other men left seriously ill after taking part in tests on a prototype drug for treating leukaemia regained consciousness.

All six patients suffered multiple organ failure within hours of taking the TGN1412 drug, made by Paraxel.

It was reported that Ryan’s head has swollen to three times its normal size in reaction to the medicine.

Ms Flanagan, from New Street in the Liberties area of Dublin, said Ryan’s family in Britain and Ireland were “in pieces”.

She said she was torn between the desire to travelling over to London to be with Ryan’s mother, Marion, and her two nephews and the need to look after her elderly mother, Anne.

Ms Flanagan said she has been speaking to Ryan’s mother every day.

“Her head is wrecked”.

She claimed Ryan’s girlfriend, Michelle Bayford was “broken-hearted”.

She said Ryan was “a very good boy” who always kept in regular contact with his relatives in Ireland. He just wanted to finish his studies and come back to Ireland to live.

She did not know if Ryan’s mother was aware that the trainee plumber intended taking part in the four-day drug trial for which he would have been paid about 2,300.

“When I first heard the news about Ryan, I thought about a similar incident that happened here many years ago,” said Ms Flanagan.

In 1986, Niall Rush died after suffered a fatal reaction to a drug when he volunteered to take part in a test.

The head of intensive care at Northwich Hospital, Ganesh Suntharalingam, said some of the patients had made noticeable progress in response to treatment.

However it is early days and they will clearly still continue to need specialist observation for some considerable time.

“There are also some very early signs of response to treatment in the most critically ill patients but I must stress that their condition remains very serious and complex and it wouldn’t be sensible to comment on prognosis.”

A Paraxel spokesperson said its staff had followed correct procedures. The company praised the swift response of its staff when the volunteers suffered such a negative reaction to the anti-inflammatory drug.