JJ Hospital’s panel on clinical drug trials suggests action against ex-dean

Mumbai: A five-member committee set up by the JJ Hospital to probe the clinical trials done at the institute since 2018, submitted its final report on Monday. It suggested action against ex-dean Dr Mukund Tayade for signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Parshwa Life Sciences (PLS) without informing concerned authorities.

Dr Tayade is also alleged to have rented out three rooms of the hospital’s pharmacology department to PLS for clinical drug trials.

“He was found to have not followed due process in renting out the place,” said a senior official from the hospital.

“Dr Akash Khobragade, the ex-medical superintendent of St George Hospital, who was named as coordinator in the MoU, was also found guilty of not following process and not knowing about the clinical drug trials,” added the official.

“The committee suggested action as per the government employee service rules.”

The committee headed by Dr Ameeta Joshi, head of the microbiology department, was formed to initially investigate the role of a private firm— PLS — and Dr Hemant Gupta, honorary physician in the clinical drug trials in the hospital.

On June 30, HT had reported on how a senior administrator of JJ Hospital first found that Dr Gupta does not sit in the medicine department but pharmacology department, where 14 non-JJ Hospital staff were found to be doing clinical drug trials.

The committee was set up by the dean of the hospital on June 21 to investigate the matter. Since the start of the investigation, the institution has received ₹70 lakh pending dues from the doctors involved in the trials.

“Among the ₹70 lakh deposited in the last two weeks, Dr Gupta has deposited ₹26 lakh and Dr Khobragade has deposited ₹12 lakh,” said another senior official.

Nearly 28 doctors from the hospital, involved in clinical drug trials with pharmaceutical companies, were questioned in the last month.

The committee’s preliminary report, which was submitted to the Directorate of Medical Research and Education (DMER) on July 11, found that the principal investigators of the clinical drug trials had not followed due diligence, and many were not even aware of the trial done by them.

It also found that Dr Tayade had arbitrarily fixed the rent amount of three rooms rented out to PLS at ₹2 lakh per year without following the government defined commercial renting rate, which is at ₹150 per square feet per month.

“The committee has advised for financial audit of all the clinical drug trials done since 2018 and on the rent part. It has also suggested institution guidelines for clinical drug trials,” said the official.