Cancer Test Gone Wrong: Six fit young men left disfigured and fighting for lives after Volunteering To Be Used As Human Guinea Pigs
Eleven years ago, eight fit young men agreed to take part in a routine drugs trial at a London hospital in exchange for £2,000.
Signing up to the trial, the volunteers believed it was a chance to make easy money and to help potentially revolutionise cancer treatment.
At worst, they thought they may suffer a splitting headache or nausea - that would pass within a couple of hours of receiving the drug.
But instead, six of them were left writhing, vomiting and screaming in agony as their temperatures soared and their organs began to fail.
Fighting for their lives, some of the human guinea pig saw their heads swell like balloons, while several had to have body parts amputated.
One victim’s girlfriend later said he looked like "the Elephant Man".
As the TGN1412 drugs trial spiralled into one of Britain's most infamous medical emergencies, shocked medics battled to save the young men.
Fortunately, they suceeded.
A few weeks later, five of the volunteers were released from hospital.
However, the youngest participant, Ryan Wilson, then 21, had to spend four months in hospital after suffering heart, liver and kidney failure.
He also experienced frostbite-like effects that led to sections of his feet being amputated and some of his fingertips falling off.
Now, a BBC documentary retells the story of the clinical catastrophe - which came to be known as the "Elephant Man" trial - and the volunteers involved.
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