Patients treated with the Mediator are still in danger. The adverse effects of this drug, which has been banned for sale for 4 years, persist after stopping treatment, according to the results of a study carried out by the Servier laboratory.
The Mediator, this drug used as an appetite suppressant by diabetics and then by overweight people is suspected of causing valve disease (dysfunction of the heart valves). Withdrawn from the market in 2009, he is again talking about him.
A study carried out by Servier laboratories in agreement with the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) was set up to assess the clinical and valve status of 574 diabetic patients 4 years after stopping benfluorex, the active molecule of Mediator.
Led by Prof. Philippe Moulin, head of the Endocrinology department at the Louis Pradel-Lyon-Bron cardiovascular and pneumological hospital, this study reveals that aortic leaks (a condition of the aortic valve that does not close tightly and allows blood to pass in the opposite direction of normal circulation) developed by some patients who have taken Mediator might tend to get worse over time.
“In patients treated with benfluorex compared to those treated with pioglitazone, the emergence of regurgitation is significantly higher at the aortic valve level, especially for” light and moderate “grade regurgitation, thus confirming the toxicity of benfluorex at the level of the aortic valve. aortic valves in some patients. Mild and moderate aortic regurgitation is observed in 11.1% of patients on benfluorex for 4.8% of patients on Pioglitazone ”confirms Prof. Philippe Moulin.
This drug, from Servier laboratories, prescribed first to diabetics who are overweight and then to overweight patients, suspected of causing high blood pressure and valve disease would have caused the death of 1300 to 1800 people in France.
