France issues stricter rules for pharma trials

The French government took measures last week to lower the health risks to clinical trial participants following the final report regarding a phase 1 clinical trial that killed one person and hospitalized five others in January. France’s health minister Marisol Touraine presented a plan on Monday for stricter rules regarding human drug trials. The plan also requested the Rennes-based Biotrial CRO that conducted the trial to submit a “plan of action” within a month to explain how it will avoid a repeat of these or else lose its operating license.

The report, issued by France’s General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (IGAS), also calls on the government to “mobilize the international scientific community” to find out what went wrong and suggests a range of scientific approaches, such as testing whether the drug hits other brain targets than the intended one and a study of the potential toxicity of the compound’s metabolites.