They live with a sword of Damocles above their heads. Tuesday, December 8, 2015, 50 people who took Mediator and who fear to develop heart disease requested before the tribunal de grande instance (TGI) of Nanterre financial compensation of 15,000 euros each, for their prejudice of anxiety. The final verdict is expected to be delivered on January 28, 2016. The prejudice of anxiety was defined in 2010 by the Court of Cassation as resulting from “a situation of permanent worry about the risk of declaration at any time of a disease“, initially for diseases related toasbestos.
Misuse at the origin of heart complications
The anguish linked to the Mediator comes from health scandal which erupted around this drug in 2007. This antidiabetic has been diverted from its first use and prescribed overwhelmingly as an appetite suppressant for over 30 years. In November 2009, it was finally withdrawn from sale in France following numerous cases of valve disease (damage to the heart valves) and pulmonary arterial hypertension it caused.
Even if the risk of declaring such pathologies would be very low two years after stopping treatment, the doubt persists, given the lack of hindsight and the scant scientific evidence on the subject. On October 22, the Nanterre TGI had for the first time recognized the civil liability of the Servier laboratory, manufacturer of the Mediator, for not having withdrawn a drug from the market “defective“which he could”ignore the risksIn the long term, the Mediator could be responsible for more than 2,000 deaths.
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