French Health Minister Marisol Touraine says inspectors have identified three oversights by a laboratory in charge of a medical drug trial that went awry leaving one patient dead.
Speaking on Thursday about the investigation, she said the oversights were not serious enough at this point to suspend the operations of the laboratory, called Biotrial.
Despite the problems, she added, the lab was found to be in line with regulations and it was still unclear what the cause of the accident was.
The three oversights identified by the inspectors were poor communication about the health of the first patient that allowed another application of the test drug to other volunteers, insufficient information to study volunteers after the hospitalisation and a delay in reporting to health authorities, Touraine said.
The investigation, conducted by the inspector for social affairs, is taking place alongside two other inquiries, including one by the prosecutor's office.
Touraine said the inspector's report was due at the end of March.
One man died in the phase-one trial of a drug to treat mood disorders after developing neurological problems and being declared brain dead.
Five others who were hospitalised have since returned home, and continue to be treated by the local hospital in Rennes, Touraine said.
Ninety volunteers had taken the test drug, developed by Portuguese firm Bial, during the trial that began on January 7.
Most of them have since undergone a neurological examination, but the anomalies shown by those who fell ill were not found in any other trial participants.
