The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 277 No 7414 p210
19 August 2006

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Clinical trial cytokine storm details published

Details of the cytokine storm suffered by participants taking part in a phase 1 trial of the investigative compound TGN1412 in March (PJ, 25 March, p342) have been published online this week (New England Journal of Medicine, 14 August 2006).

Ganesh Suntharalingam and colleagues at Northwick Park Hospital, north west London, describe how the participants suffered a systemic inflammatory response characterised by a rapid induction of proinflammatory cytokines. They go on to outline the patients’ clinical course over the 30 days following administration of TGN1412. This response offers an insight, they say, into inflammatory responses that occur in the absence of contaminating pathogens, endotoxin, or underlying disease.