Berlin’s renowned Charite hospital said...it plans to investigate allegations that patients in communist East Germany were used as unwitting guinea pigs in medical trials for Western drug companies...Der Spiegel reported that the companies involved included Germany’s Boehringer Ingelheim and Bayer AG, as well as firms later acquired by Roche Group and Novartis...and by Sanofi...Eric Althoff, a spokesman for Novartis, said the company adhered to ethical principles and laws when conducting clinical trials, but that it was willing to co-operate with authorities investigating the allegations...A spokesman for Bayer said that all of its clinical trials conformed to global standards “to the best of our knowledge.” “With regard to any studies conducted in the past in the German Democratic Republic on behalf of our company or the former Schering AG, we assume that the standards that applied at the time – in particular the legal requirements in the former GDR – were met,” Oliver Renner said. Boehringer Ingelheim said it was investigating the Spiegel report, but insisted that all trials would have conformed to international standards...