"The real factual story from A to Z had never been written", assures the pulmonologist at the Brest-Carhaix hospital (Finistère).
Entitled "Mediator, a chemically pure crime" (Ed. Delcourt), this comic strip, which should be published on January 4, was written with former journalist Éric Giacometti and drawn by François Duprat.
She undertakes to retrace not only the history of the Mediator but also that of its manufacturer, the Servier laboratories, and of another of its drugs banned in the 90s: Isomeride.
"It's an industrial crime that began in the 1960s: Servier invented a series of appetite suppressants derived from amphetamine. And, despite the signs of danger which appeared very quickly, Servier did everything possible to prevent the withdrawal of these appetite suppressants because they are extremely profitable products”, says Dr Frachon to AFP.
Marketed in 1976 for the treatment of diabetes but widely misused as an appetite suppressant, the Mediator was prescribed to around five million people until it was withdrawn in November 2009.
It is by discovering the similarity of the Mediator with Isomeride that the pulmonologist will realize its dangerousness.
Because "in reality, Isoméride and Mediator are the same thing. They release the same poison in the body. Servier knew it and concealed it", underlines Ms. Frachon.
The Isomeride scandal, withdrawn from the market in 1997, caused a stir in the United States.
But in France, the affair "made pschitt to the great displeasure of a journalist from Le Parisien, Éric Giacometti", author of several articles on the subject, says Ms. Frachon.
Marketed in 1976 for the treatment of diabetes but widely misused as an appetite suppressant, the Mediator was prescribed to around five million people until it was withdrawn in November 2009 © Fred TANNEAU, - / AFP/Archives
It was from their meeting that the idea of comics was born.
Having become the author of thrillers and screenwriter of Largo Winch, Mr. Giacometti helped give rhythm to this 200-page story, peppered with medical and scientific explanations that could have made it off-putting.
"I've been living this case like a thriller for years but I don't know how to tell it like that", confides Irène Frachon, who however specifies that "everything is factual".
"There is no place for fiction in comics," she describes, listing Servier's "barbouze methods" and the "frightening documents" from the criminal investigation.
- "Deadly poison" -
This "graphic documentary" recalls the role of the doctors who supported Servier, but also the involvement of all those who warned of the danger of the Mediator and helped Irène Frachon in her fight against the laboratory and the health authorities.
"It's very important to show the collective work behind it", underlines the one whose story inspired the film "La fille de Brest" by Emmanuelle Bercot (2016).
Irène Frachon, pulmonologist at Brest-Carhaix hospital, December 22, 2022 in Finistère © FRED TANNEAU / AFP
Along with others, this scandal has helped undermine public trust in health authorities, fueling conspiracy and anti-vaccine rhetoric.
Aware of this threat, the pulmonologist advocates to remedy it a drastic fight against the conflicts of interest which remain "omnipresent even today in the medical world".
She also pleads for greater severity of justice vis-à-vis white-collar crime, while the appeal trial of the Mediator scandal is to open on January 9.
"We are dealing with a lab that knowingly sold a deadly poison for more than ten years, with thousands of deaths. I think that deserves exemplary condemnations," she said.
In March 2021, the Paris Criminal Court sentenced Servier for "aggravated deception" and "involuntary homicides and injuries" to a fine of 2.718 million euros and acquitted him of the crime of fraud.
A sentence well below the requisitions of the prosecution.
Despite its ban 13 years ago, victims continue to die from the Mediator.
Like Cathy, who disappeared in December, just a few weeks before the publication of the comic strip in which she appears.
© 2022 AFP