Drug scandal health authority searched

Scandal for Diabetes Mediator - Several French health authorities searched

19/10/2012

In the wake of the scandal involving the diabetes drug Mediator, which is said to be responsible for the deaths of up to 2,000 patients, several French health authorities were searched on Thursday morning. Long before the prohibition, information about the side effects of the drug should have been available.

The second largest French pharmaceutical company Servier has sold from 1976 to 2009, the diabetes drug Mediator. Due to the intake, according to official data, about 3,500 people had to be hospitalized in the past 30 years. Between 500 and 2,000 patients died as a result of using Mediator. The French health authorities withdrew the drug, which was never approved in Germany, for obvious health risks in 2009. He quickly alleged that the authorities had known the problems since the 1990s. This allegation is also pursued by the French judiciary and has therefore ordered a search of several health authorities.

Have serious health problems in the patient accepted?
About five million patients are said to have taken mediator in the past few decades. The diabetes drug was also increasingly used for obesity, as the active ingredient Benfluorex curbs the appetite. However, the drug also causes significant side effects, with a particularly often a potentially life-threatening thickening of the heart valves was recorded. In the past year, numerous victims filed a lawsuit against the pharmaceutical company Servier, as it has taken the serious injury to the health of customers, so the accusation of the prosecution. The victims are convinced that Servier knew the dangerous side effects of the diabetes drug. In May, Nanterre, near Paris, opened a lawsuit against the boss of the pharmaceutical company, 90-year-old Jacques Servier, and four former executives.

French health authorities in the sights of justice
Now, however, the French health authorities are increasingly targeted by the investigators. At various government agencies, the health risks have been known by Mediator since the 1990s. However, the ban did not follow until 2009. The head of the French Agency for the Safety of Health Products (Agence française de sécurité sanitaire des produits de santé; Afssaps) has therefore had to vacate his post. If the recent searches by the French authorities confirm the suspicion, then the state authorities have grossly negligently risked the lives of the patients. Critics suggest that the interests of the French laboratory Servier alone should be protected here. (Fp)

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Picture credits: Thorsten de Jong