Drug trial victim ‘losing his fingers and toes’

One of the drug trial victims dubbed “The Elephant Men” after suffering horrific side-effects faces having his hands and feet amputated.

Ryan Wilson, a 20-year-old student, has revealed how dead tissue has spread through his fingers and toes, blackening and shrivelling the flesh in frostbite-like symptoms.

Mr Wilson, who was one of six patients taken ill during a drug trial five weeks ago, said doctors had warned him that he would lose at least part of his fingers.

In an interview with the News of the World at his bedside at Northwick Park Hospital, in north-west London, he said: “I’m definitely going to lose bits of my fingers and toes. And they say I could be in here another six months.

“When I woke up in intensive care after almost three weeks unconscious, I only realised how serious my injuries were when I saw that my hands and feet were black.

“Then I put two and two together. Three fingers were already shrivelled.”

Mr Wilson was the worst-affected of six human guinea pigs who were undergoing trials of the TGN1412 anti-inflammatory arthritis drug at London’s St Mark’s Hospital.

While the others have now been discharged from treatment, he remains under close supervision after suffering an onslaught of ailments including heart, kidney and liver failure, pneumonia and septicaemia. He is intending to sue the drug test company, Parexel, and the manafacturer, TeGenero, saying that he was told that the only possible side-effects would be mild sickness or headaches. He said that when he first emerged from three weeks on a life-support machine, he had no real idea of what had happened to him.

The state of his fingers was the first indication that something had gone seriously wrong. He added: “I’m told it’s like frostbite and my fingers will just fall off. The three that are bad will go down to the knuckle. The doctors say that they don’t want to take my fingers off because that’s messier than if the body sorts itself out.

“So, if the fingers fall off, they’ll actually heal better.”

He added: “The tips of my toes are basically dead. So at the very least, I’ll lose them.”

The mere fact that he is still alive, however, has astonished doctors, who had told his family to expect the worst.

“From what I’ve been told, I’m not supposed to be here,” Mr Wilson said.

“When I came around from the sedation, most of the doctors who came to see me had a shocked look on their faces and said, ‘You’re lucky to be here.’

“One told me I was a hero for withstanding the punishment my body took.”

Mr Wilson did the trial for a £2,000 fee which he planned to spend on driving lessons and a family holiday.

His injuries are likely to end his career plan to become a plumber and prevent him playing his favourite sport - football.

Mr Wilson’s Irish mother, Marion Flanagan, 50, said: “It horrifies me that I could go into Ryan’s room one day and find his fingers have just fallen off.

“But the doctors say that this is much better than them being surgically removed and there’s less risk of infection. We know he’s going to lose three fingers and the tips of his toes, but it could get much worse.”

© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2006.