Juan Santos Sierra tragically died in Spain whilst participating in a clinical trial for AstraZeneca, testing a new drug (which had already been tested for safety using animal tests). His brother in law, Jose Francisco Cuenca Muñoz contacted CAP (Cambridge against AstraZeneca Planning) and we are still in communication. The distraught family, besides having to deal with their own personal grief, found themselves confronted with what appears to be bad practice and callous indifference from the pharmaceutical giant. Nobody from the company contacted the family to show any compassion and when they did it was a letter clearly attempting to “buy their silence”
Irregularities were found in procedure such as lack of information on what action to take in the event of serious harm or death: information hiding; discrepancies in dates supplied by the lab and researcher etc
Jose said, “We are very grateful to CAP for their support. We aim to prove that AstraZeneca concealed information and our end goal is justice for all AstraZeneca clinical trial victims”
This tragic incident has been covered by the Spanish national television and newspapers – EFE, RNE,THE WORLD, AGENCY CANAL 13 TV.
Furthermore, this horrific occurrence brings into question the effectiveness of animal testing. This drug, as is the procedure, had already been tested for safety using animal tests. There was no autopsy after the death but there was this statement from the researcher: “we cannot assure you that it is not connected with the study”. It is alleged there has been at least one other death caused by Sifalimumab (the drug in question). AstraZeneca performs inhumane, unnecessary experiments on around 300,000 animals each year. Sadly, incidents such as this go unchallenged because AstraZeneca chooses vulnerable individuals that are unable to fight back.
A judge has admitted the complaint and court proceedings have begun with a full investigation into this tragic death.
AstraZeneca performs inhumane, unnecessary experiments on around 300,000 animals each year.* How many more human and animal lives must AstraZeneca take? AstraZeneca plans to build a global HQ and animal lab in Cambridge by 2016 and The CAP Campaign strongly opposes this. Please like our Facebook page so we can keep you updated about any events/actions, etc THANK YOU
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* 1) Figures taken from AstraZeneca’s own website and are based on 2011. 2012 and 2013 numbers. http://www.astrazeneca.com/Responsibility/Research-ethics/Animal-research/Our-performance
2) Article about the Juan Santos Sierra case.
The CAP campaign 