Critically-ill patients 'must be told' about drug trial results

The plan would mean those with life-threatening diseases could volunteer for drug trials that until now have not been openly advertised.

Ministers are backing the scheme, as they want more patients to be given a chance to volunteer for tests. But there will be no compulsion for patients to take part as 'human guinea pigs'.

Ryan Wilson: Victim of clinical trial in 2006

In 2006, six men suffered terrible side-effects after taking part in what was supposed to be a routine test at a hospital in West London.

In what became known as the ' Elephant Man' trial, one man's head ballooned in size. Another, Ryan Wilson, almost died. He spent 147 days in hospital with heart, liver and kidney failure, lost some fingers and had all his toes amputated.

Showing government support for NHS research, Gordon Brown will today map out the scheme to promote participation in experiments for new medicine.

At an event to mark the launch of a London cancer research centre, the Prime Minister will say: 'Scientific knowledge is growing rapidly. That, together with advancing technologies, brings new possibilities in prevention as well as cure.

'Large-scale clinical trials  -  which the NHS is well placed to deliver  -  will evaluate each new development. Such trials benefit the patients involved, as study after study has shown, and their results can benefit thousands, or even millions, more. So we will give patients a right to be informed of clinical trials relevant to their condition and for which they might be eligible.

'Nobody will be forced to be involved if they do not wish to be so. This is about giving patients more information so that they can make informed choices for themselves about the options available to them.'

Mr Brown will join leading scientists for a presentation from Sir Paul Nurse, the Nobel Prize-winning cell specialist, on plans for a world centre for cancer research at St Pancras, London.

It will link Cancer Research UK, the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council and the resources of the NHS, as part of a £15 billion increase in science funding.

In April, a study warned that the benefits of new cancer drugs are being 'exaggerated' because trials are stopped too soon.

Some pharmaceutical companies are halting trials  -  including those for the breast cancer drugs Herceptin and Lapatinib  -  shortly after receiving good interim results, it claimed.

As a result, patients could be at risk if drugs are approved and put into use before possible side-effects are identified.