GUNTUR: Taking advantage of illiteracy and poverty, a pharma company has used as many as 25 women from Piduguralla as guinea pigs to test a drug it is developing to treat breast cancer.Though their “prior approval” was taken, none of the women had any idea what kind of impact the clinical trials would have on them. The result: three months on, almost all of them are suffering from nervous weakness and knee pains. Some are not even in a position to walk. The women belong to Adarshnagar and Lenin Nagar in Piduguralla. Going into the details, it all started with Kommu Karunamma who left for Hyderabad three months ago and returned after two days with Rs 10,000. The news travelled by word of mouth and soon a broker sent four other women to Hyderabad. He would forward the women’s photos through his mobile to his counterpart in Hyderabad so that they could be picked up at the railway station. Dhanalakshmi, who had “volunteered” for the trials, told Express that she was tested for blood pressure and diabetes at first and later, given a tablet. “We were asked to wait for half-an-hour after which they took our blood samples. We were paid Rs 1300 towards train fares,” she recalled. During her second visit, the hospital staff took 365 grams of blood and on her third visit too, the same procedure was adopted. She was paid Rs 7,000, she revealed.Lured by this “easy money”, about 25 women had undergone these trials at a private hospital near Miyapur in Hyderabad. Speaking to Express, one of the victims, Malleswari, said the hospital authorities had informed them that they were only taking blood samples. “We did not know about the clinical trials of the drug,” she said.The women used to work in line clay industries in Piduguralla for their livelihood. The entire episode came to light when a woman, who couldn’t bear the after effects of the clinical trials, approached a local doctor. The “mediators” Kommu Karunamma and Sk Karimulla are absconding.
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