PARIS (Reuters) – The National Agency for the Safety of Medicines (ANSM) has taken legal action in the case of the mass recall of respirators from the Dutch group Philips, questioned for their potentially carcinogenic nature, the agency told Reuters on Tuesday. , confirming information from franceinfo.
“We considered it appropriate to seize the services of the Public Prosecutor of a certain number of facts in this file”, indicated a spokesperson, without wanting to give more details so as not to prejudice the ongoing investigation. .
Contacted, the Paris prosecutor’s office and the Philips group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last September, the Paris prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation into the recall of respiratory aid devices launched in 2021 by Philips after complaints of “aggravated deception, involuntary attacks on physical integrity, endangering life others and administration of harmful substances”.
For its part, the ANSM had taken a “health policy decision” in February 2022 to force Philips to accelerate the replacement of its respirators in France, where 370,000 patients are concerned for devices used mainly at home to treat sleep apnea. sleep or provide respiratory support.
(Written by Blandine Hénault, edited by Kate Entringer)
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