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FRANCE-PHARMACEUTICAL-HEALTH-TRIAL
French pharma firm guilty of fraud, manslaughter over weight loss pill:
court
PARIS, March 29, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – A French court on Monday found pharma
giant Servier guilty of “aggravated fraud” and “involuntary manslaughter”
over a diabetes and weight loss pill blamed for hundreds of deaths in one of
the country’s biggest recent health scandals.
The drug Mediator was on the market for 33 years and used by about five
million people before being pulled in 2009 over fears it could cause serious
heart problems — more than a decade after such concerns had first been
raised.
Servier’s former deputy boss was sentenced to a suspended jail sentence of
four years, and the court fined the company 2.7 million euros ($3.2 million).
France’s medicines agency was fined 303,000 euros for its role in the
scandal.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1518 hrs