Madhya Pradesh Government has initiated an investigation into the allegations of testing banned drugs by multinational drug firms on the patients in the dispensary set up for the victims of Bhopal gas tragedy.

Though the Economic Offences Wing of the MP government began the investigation following the media reports, the office of the Drugs Controller General (India) has clarified that the CDSCO had neither given any permission to any firm to conduct clinical trials of drugs which banned all over the world nor it has received any report that such drugs are being tested on the patients in the dispensary set up for the Bhopal gas victims.

The media reports said that the patients suffering from various ailments following exposure to methyl-iso-cyanate in the Bhopal tragedy in 1984 were being used as guinea pigs at the Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre (BMHRC) to test different unapproved medicines by multinational drug firms, and the issue has created furore across the country.

The research centre, set up in 2000, was also reportedly carrying out studies on long term effects of methyl-iso-cyanate (MIC) poisoning, thus raking up suspicions about clinical trials by multinational companies. It was also alleged that the required code of ethics for conducting trials was being violated. The drugs allegedly used in the trials included telavancin (patented by US company Theravance), tigecycline (Wyeth), prasugrel, fondaparinux (GlaxoSmithKline) and fixed-dose combination of cefoperazone with sulbactum (Magnex) sold by Pfizer in India.

However, official sources said that the allegations could not be established so far, but the government had ordered inquiry following the reports and the controversy. A number of public interest organisations also have raised up the matter, alleging the Bhopal gas victims were made guinea pigs for testing drugs.