Man died of CJD in `cure'

As an inquest yesterday ruled misadventure on a young victim of the human equivalent of mad cow disease, families of other victims were preparing for a High Court battle which could lead to compensation claims worth millions.

Eight families with relatives killed by the incurable brain condition Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (CJD), after human growth hormone treatment more than 11 years ago, are to launch their High Court test case in London next month.

CJD, the degenerative disorder which destroys the brain and nervous system, is likened to the brain disorder in cattle, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), but there is no proven scientific link.

The families allege medical negligence by the Medical Research Council and the Department of Health who ran the treatment programme for 17 years up to 1985 when a synthetic alternative hormone was introduced.

Both the research council and the health department deny negligence and are contesting the case which is due to start at the High Court on 16 April.

A finding against them could lead to compensation claims by 300 families whose youngsters were among 2,000 who took part in the programme. They received regular injections derived from pituitary gland material recovered from human corpses.

News of the action was announced after the inquest on David Tipping, 25, a forklift driver from Swindon, Wiltshire.

As a six-year-old he was found to have virtually no pituitary gland, which controls growth. He went on a course of injections of human-derived material which continued until he was 18.

In 1985 the human-derived material was withdrawn as scientists suspected contamination when three young people died of CJD after growth hormone treatment. Mr Tipping was switched to a bio-synthetic alternative.

He remained in good health until February last year when he went to his doctor after episodes of dizziness and sickness. In a statement read to the inquest Mr Tipping told of increasing problems of balance. In May CJD was diagnosed.

The Swindon coroner said that the disease tragically and relentlessly progressed and Mr Tipping died at home early in July, not long after his marriage.

Pathologist Dr David Hilton, of Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, told the inquest there was "no doubt" death was due to bronchial pneumonia complicated by CJD as a result of contaminated human hormone.