The failure of a drug trial that left six volunteers fighting for their lives in a London hospital cannot be blamed on the way the drug was made or administered, the final report of a government investigation has concluded. It did, however, criticise aspects of the trial's administrative procedures.

The report by the Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on events in March at the Northwick Park Hospital (BMJ 2006;332: 683, 25 Mar) concludes that an “unpredicted biological action” of the experimental antibody treatment TGN1412 caused multiple organ failure in all six previously healthy male recipients. …