A hard blow for the Sanofi laboratory, a relief for the victims of Depakine. The pharmaceutical group was ordered by the Orléans Court of Appeal to compensate the family of a victim. He is also obliged to reimburse the costs borne by the Primary Health Insurance Fund for the health expenses incurred.
The decree, issued on November 20 and unveiled by Release, forced Sanofi to pay 3 million euros to a child suffering from a general malformation syndrome linked to the taking of Depakine by his mother. To prevent the risk of epilepsy, the latter was encouraged to continue treatment with Depakine during her pregnancy “without any information having been given to her by the medical profession or the laboratory on the condition. danger of Depakine“.
A lack of information
“At the end of a pregnancy without problems, she gave birth, on November 24, 2002, to a child, Camille, presenting a general malformation syndrome, anomalies of the upper limbs and microphthalmia in particular”, specify the decrees of the court appeal, cited by Liberation. The Court recognizes in its judgment the damages on the child resulting from his “in utero exposure to sodium valproate“.
The Court considers that the antiepileptic is “a product which does not offer the safety which one can legitimately expect”.
This first conviction sounds like a first victory for the victims of the Dépakine whereas a few days earlier, the association of the victims of the Dépakine lost the first round of their group action brought against the laboratory.
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