A senior consultant has been suspended from his National Health Service (NHS) post amid allegations that safety controls were breached in a pioneering genetic therapy trial on liver cancer patients.
Nagy Habib, head of liver surgery at Hammersmith hospital in west London, is said to have injected 19 patients with human cells combined with an influenza virus to replace faulty genes and eliminate tumours - but before he was given permission to do so by the government's regulatory body, the Gene Therapy Advisory Committee (GTAC).
It is alleged that Mr Habib failed to explain the risks involved to the private, overseas patients he was treating, and failed to offer them any counselling. Among the allegations are that doctors involved in the joint British and Danish research project - led by Mr Habib - had failed to monitor patients, not keeping them in isolation for three days and releasing them too early. The Danish press has reported claims that some patients literally left the hospital within hours of the treatment.
The NHS regional trust for London has set up an independent investigation - the first into breaches of gene therapy controls. Gene therapy trials have only been conducted world-wide since 1990 and cannot be carried out in the UK without a license from GTAC. So far 22 have been approved by the body and Mr Habib's proposal was the first he had submitted. The study has also been suspended at the Arhus Community Hospital - Denmark's biggest hospital - pending a full investigation.
Sources and References
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Suspended gene doctor was set for trials in UK
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Gene mix consultant suspended
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