The Mediator is a drug from Servier laboratories, accused of having caused the death of hundreds of patients.
Initially intended to be used against diabetes, the Mediator was prescribed as an appetite suppressant from 1976 to 2009, causing serious cardiac and pulmonary side effects in thousands of patients.
The appeal trial of the Mediator scandal opened on Monday at the historic Palais de Justice in Paris, on the Ile de la Cité.
The debates will last nearly six months, with 7,500 civil parties represented.
At first instance, on March 29, 2021, the Servier group was fined 2.7 million euros for “aggravated deception” and “involuntary homicides and injuries”, but acquitted of the offenses of “undue obtaining of marketing authorization” and “fraud”.
Asked by
20 Minutes
, the Brest pulmonologist Irène Frachon, at the origin of the revelations to the general public of this scandal, returns to the stakes of this appeal trial.
"We must go to the maximum of what the law allows in this kind of offence, which is unfortunately poorly qualified at the criminal level", supports the doctor.
The “Grands Procès” room on the Ile de la Cité, the scene of the terrorist trials of November 13 and Nice, a web radio station for the 7,500 civil parties, etc.
By opening the second Mediator trial on Monday, the Paris Court of Appeal is beginning a six-month legal marathon, which should end on June 28.
In its judgment of first instance, the Paris Criminal Court ordered the Servier laboratories to pay a fine of 2.7 million euros for “aggravated deception” and “involuntary homicides and injuries”.
Since its marketing as an antidiabetic in 1976 by the second French laboratory, the Mediator, finally prescribed as an appetite suppressant until 2009, has caused cardiac and pulmonary side effects in thousands of patients.
The first decision, which notably acquitted the pharmaceutical group of the charge of "fraud", did not satisfy some victims.
This new trial will retry Jean-Philippe Seta, the former number 2 of the group (sentenced to four years suspended in the first instance), and the company Servier as a legal person.
At the origin of the revelation of the scandal to the general public, the pulmonologist Irène Frachon, who has just released a comic strip on the affair, returns for
20 Minutes
to the stakes of this new trial.
Before being called to the bar, as a witness, during the month of February.
What do you expect from this appeal? What is your state of mind ?
I expect judges to confirm the offense of deception on the goods and that they believe that the Servier laboratories defrauded Social Security.
The unpardonable offense that should forever disqualify the group is that of "aggravated deception" and "involuntary injuries and homicides", even if I prefer to speak of "deliberate deception".
These serious offenses were recognized at first instance, the victims were well compensated (more than 183 million euros in damages to the victims).
On the other hand at the penal level, it is insufficient, I hope that, this time, the requisitions of the parquet floor will be followed *.
What Servier did was to market for sixty years very dangerous amphetamine derivatives which release a toxic molecule, norfenfluramine, into the body.
I am shocked to see that to judge a simple technical and scientific deception, the debate stretches indefinitely.
Basically, it's extremely simple, from every point of view.
This is scientifically a double-edged deception with dramatic consequences.
It's a shame to have another six months of trial for a case that could be tried in a few weeks, but it's part of Servier laboratories' defense strategy.
Their lies are reminiscent of those of a state with totalitarian propaganda.
Should this new trial serve as an example for future health scandals?
I hope it will be a turning point and that it will reassure people.
You have to tell them: “when you are poisoned, it does not go well for the poisoners”.
If we take the recent example of chlordecone, the responsibilities are diluted and it did not lead to a conviction.
There, with the Mediator, we hold one.
There is a culprit, and it is a legal person: the Servier laboratories.
This is the time to say that when there is such an extreme transgression, criminal justice must respond.
People who attempt the lives of others are imprisoned for a long time, but justice seems petrified in the face of white-collar delinquency, when they are also criminals.
We must go to the maximum of what the law allows in this type of offence, which is unfortunately poorly qualified at the criminal level.
But this is not a reason not to follow the requisitions of the prosecution.
This is scientifically a double-edged deception with dramatic consequences.
»
On November 30, 2009, the Mediator was withdrawn from the French market, Servier laboratories were condemned at first instance. Wouldn't the fight already be won?
No, because the Mediator still kills today.
In December, two victims died.
I just heard from Henriette, one of the first victims I tracked down in Brest.
On January 20, she will undergo a very risky open-heart operation.
We are going to change two heart valves, she is constantly out of breath.
Who can imagine trusting a person with a very long criminal record?
This is the case of the Servier laboratories, and yet they still remain very influential.
The group massively subsidizes medical conferences, many academicians of medicine are still members of the Servier Institute.
our file on the mediator
A few days ago (on December 29), Madeleine Dubois, a former lobbyist for the group, was promoted to officer of the Legion of Honor.
We are not able to draw red lines.
I launched a petition for the President of the Republic to change the regulations and posthumously remove the title of Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor from Jacques Servier (father of Laboratoires Servier, who died in 2014).
Books
Mediator: The whistleblower Irène Frachon retraces the history of the Servier laboratories affair in comics
Economy
Laboratoire Servier: A subsidy for a Loiret site canceled by the Ministry of Industry
*In 2020, the prosecution had requested a fine of 10.2 million euros and a conviction for "fraud" against Servier laboratories.
He had asked for firm imprisonment against Jean-Philippe Seta.
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Mediator