This is the conclusion of an appeal trial which lasted six months. The Servier group, which marketed the Mediator, was sentenced on appeal, Wednesday December 20, to a fine of more than 7 million euros and to reimburse more than 415 million euros to social security organizations and mutual societies.
The pharmaceutical group was found guilty of all the offenses with which it was charged, including the offense of fraud for which it was acquitted at first instance.
Servier held responsible for hundreds of deaths
Marketed in 1976 as an adjuvant to antidiabetic treatments, but often unduly prescribed as an appetite suppressant until it was banned in 2009, Mediator, a flagship molecule from Servier, caused serious cardiovascular damage in thousands of patients. He is held responsible for hundreds of deaths.
In March 2021, during the trial at first instance, the Paris criminal court sentenced the six companies of the Servier laboratory to a fine of 2.7 million euros, estimating that it had “from 1995, sufficient ‘elements to become aware of the mortal risks’ linked to the Mediator.
The prosecution accuses Servier in particular of having continued to market Mediator without informing patients of the risks involved, with the aggravating circumstance that this risk affected their state of health.
In total, 7,650 people became civil parties to the trial, most of them in the “deception” section. Some 5,000 other cases for homicide or involuntary injuries are still being investigated by the Paris prosecutor’s office, paving the way for a probable second Mediator trial in the coming years.