Bessborough babies were used for formula trial

A previously unknown trial of lactose and baby formula was carried out using infants in Bessborough Mother and Baby Home by Glaxo Laboratories in the mid-1970s.

This is now the sixth confirmed clinical trial using children in care in Ireland by a predecessor company of pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). It has previously stated that only four trials — of various vaccines — were carried out in Ireland in the 1960s and ’70s. These trials were carried out by the Wellcome Foundation.

However, in 2014, the Irish Examiner revealed a fifth trial was carried out — this time by Glaxo Laboratories — involving more than 30 children in the 1960s.