Trial opens into hundreds of deaths from weight-loss pill

At least 500 people are thought to have died of heart valve problems in France after taking the drug Mediator for weight-loss. Photo / File

A major trial into a weight-loss drug linked to hundreds of deaths has opened in France in a case exposing the allegedly unhealthy ties between members of the medicines watchdog and the pharmaceutical industry.

Servier, the drugs company, is accused of aggravated deception, fraud and illegal taking of interest, or failing to act to shelve Mediator, a diabetes pill for weight loss, despite safety concerns.

The ANSM medicines watchdog - known at the time as Afssaps - faces charges of negligence and manslaughter in the criminal court in Paris.

A massive trial with more than 4,000 plaintiffs has opened against pharmaceutical giant Servier Laboratoires in France. Photo / AP

At least 500 people are thought to have died of heart valve problems in France after taking the drug while experts estimate it may cause 2,100 deaths in the long term and have caused irrevocable damage to thousands of others.

Mediator was on the market for 33 years and was used by about five million people. Safety alerts were flagged in the mid-Nineties but it was only banned in France in 2009, long after being outlawed in the US, Spain and Italy.

The marathon six-month trial, one of the biggest in French history, involves 2,600 civil plaintiffs and will focus on 91 victims, four of them deceased.

Doctor Irene Frachon, who discovered that the drug Mediator could have fatal side effect, speaks to reporters as she arrived at Paris courthouse. Photo / AP

Twelve defendants include Jean-Philippe Seta, Servier's former No 2, doctors who were members of Afssaps commissions while also being paid as pharma company consultants, and Marie-Therese Hermange, a former senator who produced a report said to be favourable to Servier.

Servier says it did not know about the risk before 2009. The trial continues.