Experts have called for major changes to the way new drugs are tested to avoid a repeat of the disastrous Northwick Park Hospital study that almost killed six volunteers.

The panel, set up by health secretary Patricia Hewitt and led by Gordon Duff, professor of molecular medicine at Sheffield University, investigated the incident in which all six recipients of the immune modulating drug TGN1412 had multiorgan failure at the private research wing of the Northwick Park Hospital, north London, in March this year.

In the light of events, the report makes 22 recommendations for pre-phase I, “first-to-human” trials using new drugs or drugs that alter the immune system.

It …