The bill is likely to be very heavy. The public prosecutor requested on Tuesday evening of the fines of a total amount of eur 8.2 million against the group Servier and a sentence of three years in prison, against his ex-number 2, tried at Paris in the case of the scandal health Mediator. Against the security Agency of the drug, sued for being late to suspend the marketing of the Mediator in spite of repeat alerts on his dangerousness, the prosecution has requested a sentence of 200 000 euros fine.
The group Servier ” has done work of great creativity in the art of the smoke “, has criticized the prosecutor Aude Le Guilcher at the end of a closing technique more than eight hours. “It is worth noting the magnitude of the maneuvers and stratagems” of the laboratory, she continued. It ” has deliberately and in full knowledge of the facts, the choice cynical not to take account of the risk that he could not ignore “.
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“Sinister” bet
Put on the market in 1976 as an adjuvant in the treatment of diabetes, but largely hijacked as an appetite suppressant, the Mediator, was prescribed to approximately five million people. It is responsible for hundreds of deaths. It has not been withdrawn from the market in November 2009, while the early warnings about its danger have been issued since 1995, and that of the first case of severe heart diseases have been reported as early as 1999.
The firm has made “the sinister wager that these risks would be minimal in terms of patients never bother to evaluate it seriously as she had the means to do so,” said the prosecutor. The maximum penalty, a fine of 1.85 million euros has been required against the parent company SAS, Servier, as well as against the company, Laboratoires Servier, who were ” at the heart of the device “. The prosecutor has also asked for a total fine of 4.5 million against four other companies in the group. Those penalties added up to represent an amount of 8.2 million which does not include contraventions related requirements for unintentional injuries.
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Against the ex-number 2 of the group Jean-Philippe Seta, the public prosecutor had requested a sentence of five years imprisonment, of which two years, with relief, ” given the particular gravity of his conduct.” A fine of 200,000 euros was also sought against the ex-right hand man of Jacques Servier, the all-powerful boss of the firm who died in 2014. The indictment continues Wednesday morning in the pane on the suspicion of conflicts of interest which are pursued former members and experts of the Agency of the drug.
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