More than a month after the conviction of the Merck laboratory to issue the old formula of Levothyroxto 25 patients from Haute-Garonne, the court of Saint-Gaudens has just taken the opposite decision. He rejected the request of 40 patients who wanted to obtain the old formula of the drug which treats the disorders of the thyroid. These patients, who complain of adverse effects linked to the new formula, had seized the court requesting not only the return to the old formula but also compensation for the damage suffered.
The “prejudice of anxiety” advanced by the plaintiff’s lawyer was not accepted by the court of Saint-Gaudens. The summary judge put forward several reasons for the rejection of the request: “absence of medical certificates” on the harmful effects of the drug, “existence of substitutes”, “only 0.6% or 15,600 of the 2.6 million people treated by levothyrox concerned by this problem and marketing by the laboratory of 218,080 boxes “, in the words of the lawyer of the complainant patients, taken up by AFP.
Appeal of this decision
This end of inadmissibility decided by the court of Saint-Gaudens goes against the Toulouse court decision delivered on November 14. The Toulouse court then ordered the Merck laboratory to deliver “without delay” the old formula of Levothyrox in Haute-Garonne, “through distribution and marketing channels”. This conviction was accompanied by a fine of 10,000 euros per day for each violation found. The Merck laboratory had appealed against the decision.
After the refusal of the Saint-Gaudens court, it is the turn of the patient’s lawyer to appeal.
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