Slimming pill may have killed 2,000
Diet drug scandal grows as health minister points to “serious failures” in system that may have led to 2,000 deaths
HEALTH minister Xavier Bertrand has ordered a full inquiry into the slimming drug Mediator to find out why it was on sale for years after doctors first raised concerns. It may have caused the deaths of 2,000 owing to heart valve problems.
His move comes after newspaper Le Figaro published details of a 1998 letter to the Agence du Médicament from three professors warning of the dangers of the drug, which was being linked to heart problems.
They also queried the fact that Mediator, an amphetamine, was freely available, while other amphetamines were strictly controlled.
Mr Bertrand said there had been “serious failures in our health system”.
He has asked the Inspection Générale des Affaires Sociales to investigate why the drug, formerly used to treat diabetics, was available for more than 30 years despite the warnings and a ban on a chemically similar molecule.
Mr Bertrand also wants recommendations on ways to tighten oversight of medical treatments and says that, if a drug is banned in any part of the world, this information should be passed on to other countries. Italy and Spain both banned Mediator in 2003. It was never on sale in the UK, Ireland or the US.
The Agence Française de Sécurité Sanitaire des Produits de Santé (Afssaps) said in November that at least 500 people were thought to have died as a result of taking Mediator, but new estimates have since been published putting the possible toll as high as 2,000.
Mediator, manufactured by Servier, has been used by five million French people since 1976, but has been under investigation in Europe since 1995.
