Trial MVA85A - monkey trials for a booster vaccine for BCG, developed by researchers at Oxford University, is the subject of an investigation published on bmj.com.

Experts warn that today’s investigation is just one example of “a systematic failure” afflicting preclinical research and call for urgent action “to make animal research more fit for purpose as a valuable and reliable forerunner to clinical research in humans.”

The press conference is led by Dr Fiona Godlee, the editor-in-chief of the BMJ, who provides a background to the investigation. The panel members are:

Dr Deborah Cohen, author of the investigation and associate editor at the BMJ, talking about carrying out the investigation and the difficulty to obtain basic information

Professor Paul Garner from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, addressing the ineffectiveness of the current TB vaccine and also talking about the backlash he experienced after publishing a systematic review concluding that the animal studies results had been overstated

Malcolm Macleod, from the University of Edinburgh, talking about the broader public health aspect

Merel Ritskes-Hoitinga from the Department for Health Evidence in The Netherlands, addressing the quality of animal studies and the need for systematic reviews

and Jonathan Kimmelman, from McGill University in Canada analysing the story from the perspective of biomedical ethics.