A consultant threatened to block scientists from c
A consultant threatened to block scientists from checking his work on a diabetes drug which could have earned him hundreds of thousands of pounds in royalties, the GMC heard today (THURS).
Dr Goran Jamal, 49, is accused of fiddling the results of his trials at Glasgow’s Southern General Hospital to make the revolutionary treatment a success.
The Kurdish doctor is famous for being the first to find evidence of a possible Gulf War syndrome caused by the effects of chemical weapons.
Jamal’s work was to be thoroughly monitored from the setting up of the experiment right to the submission of his results, the hearing was told.
But scientist Joan Rest told how the consultant threatened to appeal to her bosses at Scotia Pharmaceuticals to stop her interfering.
She said: ‘He appeared to me to be resisting all the time having my going to his centre and checking his work.
‘I tried to impress on him how important this was.
It was vital the study was done to the highest standard.
‘But I had the impression he didn’t want me to go there and was appealing to the head of the company and the medical director.
‘
Mrs Rest said she did not know if Dr Jamal actually phoned anyone at Scotia.
The drug, known as Efamol and based on Evening Primrose Oil, could have earned tens of millions of pounds if approved by the Medicine Control Agency, it is claimed.
Jamal had been promised 0.
5 per cent of sales by its makers Scotia Pharmaceuticals for his role in developing and testing the treatment.
Mrs Rest told the hearing she was worried about Jamal’s handling of the trial of Efamol even before it had begun with 60 patients in late 1991.
She said: ‘I had the impression that Dr Jamal was very a efficient person.
‘However I had very grave concerns about the no of patients he proposed to see in such a short time and the fact there was only one person and no cross check with anyone else.
‘In every other study centre there were at least two people.
He was doing the study single handed.
‘
She also became worried when Jamal revealed he was keeping the drugs in a locked cupboard in the hospital and not in the Pharmacy.
No patients had been recruited at Glasgow by July 1991 even though other trial centres had begun testing, the hearing was told.
Mrs Rest said: ‘It was a matter of concern because Scotia is a very small company and they were relying on getting the data in order to put in an application for a licence for this drug.
‘Every month there was a delay was very costly for the company.
‘
Dr Jamal later sent a fax saying he would start in August, and added: ‘Be assured you will be very pleased with Glasgow’s contribution.
‘
Mrs Rest said she was ‘surprised’ when Dr Jamal started the study with very little warning.
She added: ‘Dr Jamal’s results on the previous studies had been better than the ones from other centres and this had aroused some comment.
‘It was therefore absolutely crucial that if Dr Jamal was to recruit a considerable number of patients for the current trial, everything must be documented to the highest standards.
‘If the results were so much better, there had to be good reason or an explanation.
‘
Mrs Rest said she visited Glasgow again in February 1992 but was ‘distinctly unhappy’ with the way things were going.
The coded envelopes used to make sure the study was carried out properly had been temporarily lost, the committee heard.
Dr Jamal ran one branch of the study at Southern General at the same time as others in Sweden, Guys Hospital in London, Dusseldorf, Manchester Royal Infirmary and North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary from July 1990.
He now works at the Charing Cross Hospital in London.
Jamal, of Pinner Hill, Pinner, Middlesex, denies serious professional misconduct.
The hearing continues.
ends
mmmm
