From pharmaceutical manufacturer Dienst
Paris court deals again with deadly slimming pill
The criminal case over dangerous slimming pills from the pharmaceutical manufacturer Dienst has been re-negotiated since Monday before an appeals court in Paris.
ARCHIVE – Doctor Irene Frachon makes a press statement while exiting a Paris courthouse. In the spectacular criminal case over dangerous slimming pills in France, the pharmaceutical manufacturerServ has been fined millions. The criminal case over dangerous slimming pills from the pharmaceutical manufacturer Dienst has been re-negotiated since Monday before an appeals court in Paris. Photo: Francois Mori/AP/dpa
In a first trial in 2021, the manufacturer was found guilty of serious deception, negligent bodily harm and manslaughter and sentenced to a fine of 2.7 million euros. A former top manager of the manufacturer was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment.
Both the company and the ex-manager appealed the verdict. The so-called mediator affair is considered one of the biggest French health scandals.
The pills could have caused the deaths of at least 500 patients in France alone, according to a study by the Medicines Safety Regulatory Agency. The drug is said to have caused heart and circulatory damage, among other things. The drug Mediator has not been on the market in France for years, and it has not been sold in Germany.
Dienst had denied the allegations. Dienst brought the pills onto the market as a diabetes drug in the mid-1970s. It was also commonly prescribed to overweight people as a hunger suppressant.
(SDA)