New details emerge in fatal clinical trial involving liver failure.
Issue is of keen interest to FDA as it weighs pulling diabetes pill off the market. The follow-up test came about a month later in April 1998. The flaw in the clinical trial comes to light as the FDA is considering whether to withdraw Rezulin from sale to the general public. Jones' death was of strong interest to the FDA and other officials in mid-1998 because it showed that even a patient monitored within an NIH clinical trial could not be saved from liver failure. Dr. David M. Nathan, a Harvard medical professor who as chairman of the NIH study encouraged the selection of Rezulin, did not return calls Monday seeking his comment.