“The State is declared responsible for the possible harmful consequences for the absorption of the Mediator from June 7, 1999”. It is in these terms that the administrative tribunal of Paris recognizes the guilt of the state in the Mediator affair, this anti-diabetic drug used as an appetite suppressant. In this exceptional judgment, it is precisely the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) which is targeted.
His fault: not having withdrawn the Mediator from the market in 1999, when we began to know and worry about the harmful side effects of benfluorex, the Mediator molecule, in the national pharmacovigilance commission. It was not until November 2009 that the drug was finally withdrawn from the market.
Taking benfluorex is known to increase the risk of high blood pressure and valve disease, damage to the heart valves. According to a judicial expert report from the Paris prosecutor’s office, the number of deaths caused indirectly by the Mediator would amount to 300 deaths in the short term. In the medium term … to more than 1,300 deaths.
About twenty pending files
We better understand the scale of the health scandal and the media impact of the judgments. The administrative court’s decision currently applies to thirteen cases filed by victims of the drug. It should allow them to receive compensation from the state. The amount is not yet known and should be fixed according to medical expertises on the victims which aim to establish the “causal link between the pathology described and exposure to the Mediator” and “to assess the physical suffering or moral suffered “, according to the judgment, repeated by AFP.
Thirteen victims see their ordeal recognized by the state but others should follow. About twenty files are still waiting on the judges’ desk.
