The Council of State ruled that the faults committed by the Servier laboratory in the Mediator case could partially or even totally exonerate the State.
The French State will not be forced to fully compensate the damage suffered by the victims of the Mediator, a drug withdrawn from the market in 2009. The Council of State ruled on Wednesday that “the wrongdoing” of the Servier laboratory, producer of the drug, were “such as to exonerate the State”.
This decision of the highest administrative court of the country thus overturns a judgment of the administrative court of appeal of Paris of July 31, 2015. It had considered that it was up to the State to repair all the damages suffered by patients who took this drug, while having the possibility of attacking Servier in criminal proceedings.
The 17 judges and the president of the Council of State specify that the administrative court of appeal “will have to determine what part of the compensation for the damage it must pay to the State”.
On the other hand, the institution confirms the responsibility of the State and judges that “it is only from 1999 that the State committed a fault by not taking measures of suspension or withdrawal of the authorization. of placing the Mediator on the market ”.
Indeed, before this date, “no serious adverse effects relating to the taking of Mediator were identified”, estimate the judges. But from mid-1999, the first harmful effects of benfluorex (active ingredient of Mediator) were reported. As a result, the responsibility of the State can be engaged “in matters of drug control”.
29 million already paid
Since the 1970s, nearly 5 million people have taken Mediator, an anti-diabetic widely used as an appetite suppressant. At the origin of serious cardiac complications and pulmonary arterial hypertension, the drug would be responsible in the long term for 2,100 deaths.
Servier’s responsibility was recognized for the first time in October 2015, and confirmed this year by the courts. A criminal trial should also be held.
The laboratory is already compensating victims of the Mediator with proven adverse effects. In most cases, they turned to the National Medical Accident Compensation Office (Oniam). At the end of October 2016, 2,276 patients had received a compensation offer for a total amount of 44.4 million euros, of which 29 million euros have already been paid, according to a monthly statement published by the laboratory on his website.
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