Focus on France Ian Sparks reports from Paris

EURO-REPORT

FOCUS ON... France

Ian Sparks reports from Paris on a scandal in the pharmaceutical industry.

French pharmaceutical giant Servier Laboratories has been plunged into the biggest crisis in its 55-year history this month after accusations it lied to the government to get a licence for its controversial drug Mediator.

The company is facing legal action over claims it presented the product as a drug for overweight diabetes sufferers in order to get it certified for sale in 1979. But it has now been hit with allegations that it hid the fact that the active ingredient in the drug, called Benflourex, was actually an appetite-suppressant and as such could generate much greater profits among the general population.

The investigation into Servier – France’s second largest drugs company – was launched earlier this year after an official government report linked Mediator to the deaths of up to 2000 people and heart problems in 3500 more. Paris government scientists said the drug may have caused thickening of the heart valves, fatigue and breathlessness – and had no effect at all on weight loss.

Mediator was only banned after a study in April 2009 by lung specialist Dr Irene Frachon, which linked it to scores of patients with otherwise unexplained heart valve problems.

But Mediator was so widely used over 30 years by millions of people desperate to lose weight that the fallout could now become the worst health scandal in France’s history.

After the government report into the drug last April, the French media alleged there was a campaign of intimidation and disinformation by Servier to keep their highly lucrative product on the market. French daily Liberation said anonymous threats were sent to researchers who criticised another drug called Isomeride, similar to Mediator, which as on sale in the US.

The latest threat of legal action comes after French Health Minister Xavier Bertrand vowed to uncover why his predecessors over the past 30 years failed to ban the drug.

In a scathing indictment of Servier’s practices, Professor Jean Charpentier, who analysed the drug for the company before its 1979 launch, said all his references to the fact that it was an appetite-suppressant mysteriously vanished from the instructions and packaging.

He told French daily newspaper Liberation in September: “I must confess I was astonished to see that when Mediator went on sale, it was presented as a drug for diabetics.”

Lawyers across France were now planning to sue Servier for criminal negligence and involuntary murder in a huge medical ‘class action’ case, French newspaper le Figaro said. President Sarkozy added: “The public deserves no less than total transparency in this matter.”

“I was astonished to see that when Mediator went on sale, it was presented as a drug for diabetics.”

No Internet restrictions – yet

French Internet users breathed a sigh of relief this week after industry minister Eric Besson and the nation’s telecoms federation said that the country’s operators would continue to offer packages with unlimited high-speed web access. The statement came after a recent report warned that Internet service providers were considering restricting the amount of date private Internet users could download.

French newspaper Le Parisien said the plan, backed by the French telecoms federation, was aimed at improving the flow of Internet traffic as just 5 per cent of very high consumers currently use up 80 per cent of the available bandwidth.

But Mr Besson said at the beginning of this month: “The government isn’t considering any restriction to Internet access.”

French Telecoms Federation chief Yves Le Mouel later denied ever having planned to restrict unlimited web access, adding in support of Mr Besson: “The closure of unlimited Internet is out of the question. However it is not improbable that operators will increasingly differentiate their offers, and some may have specific offers for very heavy web users.

“But if such changes were implemented, that would only impact those five to ten per cent of consumers who currently account for around the vast majority of the bandwidth.”

Air France-KLM cutting costs

French national carrier Air France-KLM is seeking to make cost savings of 700–800 million euros per year to protect its profits in the face of economic uncertainty, French financial daily Les Echos said.

The cuts would go beyond this year’s planned savings of 470 million euros, the newspaper said, citing unnamed sources.

Chief executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon addressed union representatives on September 5 and warned the group would have to cut its growth targets due to an ‘uncertain financial outlook’, Les Echos reported. And in addition to a salary freeze and a cut in capacity growth for next summer, divisional heads had also been asked to come up with additional cost savings by the end of the year, the paper said.

A decision over the purchase of around 100 long-haul planes was expected in September, according to les Echos.

In response to the report, an Air FranceKLM spokesman confirmed: “The airline is looking at all ways to cut costs and this work is ongoing.” n