October 4, 2000                                                                                  home
A Reuters report by Richard Woodman quotes a Novartis spokesperson denying accusations of cruelty and lack of scientific validity in the Daily Express articles as "absurd".  Novartis, the Swiss pharmaceutical giant, is the parent company of Imutran, a British branch which conducted experimental organ transplants from pigs to primates at the Huntingdon Life Science  Laboratories in Cambridgeshire, UK.

The denial follows the announcement that Imutran will merge with BioTransplant, Inc. in Boston, Massachusetts and move its entire operation and most of its staff there.  The company insists that the move is  not in response to allegations of animal cruelty and lack of scientific progress but to protect "commercially sensitive scientific data and the safety of staff. . . The closure simply reflects Novartis's view of how the science can best be taken forward," the spokesperson said.

Uncaged Campaigns, the British organization which released information from leaked company documents, dismissed  the move as  "an attempt to shore up public, scientific and financial confidence in their xenotransplantation project in the wake of our devastating expose."

Alix Fano of Campaign for Responsible Transplantation observed: "It's interesting that Novartis is moving its operations to the US where animal welfare and biotechnology regulations are either lax or non-existent, particularly at a time when the company is facing such intense scrutiny in Britain."

Email from Imutran to Civitas  October 11, 2000
Dear Sir,
Further to my e-mail of September 29, 2000, I am writing to inform you that
the Injunction Order of the Court has been extended until a further hearing next week. It has been amended to include wider provisions allowing the relevant Authorities (although no one else) to have access to our confidential documents.

Yours sincerely,

Corinne Savill
IMUTRAN LIMITED
Registered Office:
Douglas House
18 Trumpington Road
Cambridge
CB2 2AH

October 20, 2000
Imutran versus Uncaged Campaigns and Dan Lyons

Case adjourned again
On Wednesday 18 October 2000 the case was adjourned again because Imutran's legal team claimed that they required more time to consider a proposal we have made. Although we opposed the application for an adjournement, it was successful and, consequentially, the full hearing has been delayed and now will not take place until the end of November due to prior commitments of the counsels for each party and the Vice Chancellor (the senior judge of the Chancery Division of the High Court). The case is being heard by Lord Morritt. Lord Morritt is Richard Scott, who conducted the 'Arms to Iraq' enquiry in the 1990's. A precise date for the hearing has yet to be set. Unfortunately, this means that Imutran's injunction suppressing the dissemination of our campaign leaflet and the 'Diaries of Despair' report remains in place until the dispute is settled in or out of court.
Imutran costs claim rejected
At yesterday's hearing, Imutran also attempted to force us to pay 'several thousands of pounds' (the words of their counsel) of Imutran's legal costs, which they claim total over £81,000. Imutran is a part of Novartis, the Swiss-based multinational pharmaceutical company whose sales last year totalled £12.6 billion. Imutran's manoeuvre would have resulted in the bankruptcy of both Uncaged Campaigns and Dan Lyons, author of the Diaries of Despair report. This in turn would have potentially stopped us from being able to defend ourselves in a full hearing where our case could be presented. However, the judge would not rule on Imutran's costs claim, ensuring that the issue of costs can be settled at the proper time, after the case has been fully heard.
Despite the intense and intimidating legal attack launched by Imutran against us, we are determined to stand firm in order to allow an informed and open public debate about the suffering that Imutran have inflicted on hundreds on higher primates in their pig-to-primate organ transplant research at Huntingdon Life Sciences over the past six years.


Email from Imutran to Civitas October 20, 2000
Further to my email dated 11 October 2000 at a further hearing on 18
October 2000, it was ordered that the injunction be continued until a
further date (which is yet to be fixed). As previously, only the relevant
authorities are permitted to have access to our confidential documents and
they must not be disseminated by anyone.

Yours sincerely,

Corinne Savill
For and on behalf of Imutran Ltd
Douglas House
18 Trumpington Road
Cambridge
CB2 2AH

Three articles in Daily Express that started this sequence of events