In 2004, Minnesota student Dan Markingson committed suicide while participating in a clinical drug trial for various mood disorders. Trial sponsors the University of Minnesota and AstraZeneca were cleared of blame by the FDA in 2005. Last week, a group of faculty members at the university wrote an open letter to the university's Board of Regents requesting further investigation due to "troubling questions" that remain unanswered and a concern over "conflicts of interest" in the Academic Health Center.
posted by modernnomad on Dec 6, 2010 - 21 comments

Dying for Lifesaving Drugs: Will desperate patients destroy the pharmaceutical system that produces tomorrow's treatments?Reason Magazine
posted by BrotherCaine on Jul 26, 2007 - 43 comments

Newsfilter: The trial of a new drug to treat rheumatoid arthritis and leukaemia goes horribly wrong. 6 normally healthy volunteers have a freak reaction to the drug resulting in multiple organ failure. All 6 men are in intensive care. 4 are seriously ill while 2 remain in a critical condition. An eyewitness, fortunate to have taken only a placebo recalls the nightmare as the men around him begin to fall ill.
posted by piscatorius on Mar 16, 2006 - 98 comments

"We're very sorry, but the DEA has asked us to arrest you." A Canadian citizen, on a connecting flight between Canada and Ireland, is pinched in the Netherlands at the request of the US government. To prevent him from testifying in a Canadian drug trial?
posted by kablam on Nov 2, 2002 - 14 comments