[ad_1]
Mediator, one of the biggest health scandals in France, has been on the market for 33 years and has been used by around 5 million people. persons. The drug was recalled in 2009 over concerns that it could cause serious heart problems, more than a decade after those fears first surfaced.
The company has “weakened people’s trust in the healthcare system,” the court’s president, Sylvie Daunis, said in a verdict.
“Although the company has been aware of the risk for many years <...> it has never taken the necessary measures, “he added.
Instead, the company “misled” consumers, the judge added.
The court awarded the producers 2.7 million. a fine of 1000 euros, which finds him guilty of fraud, accidental manslaughter and involuntary harm.
Servier’s former deputy chief, Jean-Philippe Seta, was sentenced to four years of probation.
The chairman of the company’s board, the influential Jacques Servier, passed away in 2014.
Meanwhile, the French Medicines Agency was fined 303 thousand. a fine of EUR 1 000 for delay in stopping use of the medicine
The court found the regulator guilty of accidental murder and accidental injury.
Originally intended for overweight people with diabetes, Mediator was later widely prescribed to healthy people as an appetite suppressant.
The first cases of heart disease associated with the drug appeared in 1999, ten years before it was withdrawn from the market.
More than 6.5 thousand. the plaintiffs, including the French sickness funds, are seeking compensation of one billion euros.
An estimated 500 people died as a result of the drug, although experts estimate that the true figure could reach 2.1 thousand. deceased.
[ad_2]
