Perhaps predictably, the antivivisection groups have been quick to exploit the human tragedy of the clinical trials disaster to pursue their own campaigning agenda.

Bringing a new medicine to the market is a complex process which involves many stages of testing. It typically takes between 10 and 12 years. Finding out what went wrong in this clinical trial might also require detailed investigation. We simply don’t know all the facts at this stage.

But the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) cannot be accused of taking their time to rush out their ill-informed condemnation of animal testing. They state correctly that the drug that caused multiple organ failure in the human volunteers had been approved for trial after being tested on animals. But a small error of omission here amounts to a huge act of dishonesty. There was no mention from the BUAV that this drug had also been tested with many of the alternatives which the anti-vivisectionists are consistently calling for - such as cell-culture and computer analysis.

Nobody has ever suggested that any of these ‘pre-clinical’ tests can give a 100% guarantee of safety for human subjects. There is always some inherent risk in clinical trials, just as virtually all medicines have some side-effects. But to suggest that we abandon certain types of test because they are not perfect is like saying that we should stop wearing seatbelts because they do not prevent all injuries.

There are around 300 of these early stage clinical trials every year. Yet the kind of problems that we have seen at Northwick Park Hospital are exceptionally rare. The record of pre-clinical tests, including animal tests, in protecting humans has been excellent. We should not let animal rights propaganda get in the way of a proper investigation into this unusual exception.