Servier laboratories “Had, from 1995, sufficient elements to become aware of the fatal risks which they were running to the patients” But “Upheld against all odds the marketing of a drug whose benefit was very questionable, with disregard for patient safety and the consequences on public health”.
In doing so, they committed “A fraud of a considerable and unprecedented scale, of which thousands of patients were victims” and “Particularly strong and serious damage to the legitimate confidence of patients and consumers in pharmaceutical laboratories and in the health system in general”.
Ten years after the first indictments, a year and a half after the opening of the trial, nine months after its conclusion, the Servier laboratories were found guilty of “ aggravated deception ” and of “Injuries and manslaughter”, according to the judgment rendered Monday, March 29, as long (1,988 pages) and bushy as the hearing had been. So decided the 31e Chamber of the Paris Criminal Court: Servier lied, he ignored the alerts which, in 1995 and 1999 in particular, should have led him to stop marketing the Mediator, and his maneuvers to keep it on the market at all costs killed them.
SAS Servier and its various subsidiaries were fined 2.7 million euros. Jean-Philippe Seta, former number two of the group and the only natural person tried for these facts, was found guilty of the same offenses, and sentenced to four years in prison. The prosecution requested a 10.3 million euro fine against Servier, and five years in prison, two of which were suspended against Mr. Seta.
No “1 billion judgment”
The National Agency for the Safety of Medicines (ANSM), which, during the debates, did not deny its share of responsibility but largely blamed the laboratory, was found guilty of “involuntary injuries and homicides” , and sentenced to a fine of 303,000 euros. ANSM (ex-Afssaps) “Failed in his role of drug policeman”, considers the court. His “Recklessness” and his “Negligence” were fatal, and contributed to “Reinforce citizens’ mistrust of health authorities”.
Also listen Mediator case: route of a health scandal
Once the penal sanctions are listed, the court ruled on the civil action: compensation for victims. The lawyers of some 6,500 civil parties had pleaded the “Judgment at 1 billion”, a symbolic amount supposed to mark the spirits, which broke down into 500 million euros for Mediator consumers and their entourage, and 500 million for the National Health Insurance Fund (CNAM) under “The scam” of which the latter considered herself a victim, she who reimbursed for three decades a useless and toxic drug.
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