Mediator: a compensation fund established, penalties could hit Servier

Written by Sandeep Nehra

The Oniam, who will manage the public fund to compensate victims of the Mediator, may request the laboratory Servier penalties if it refuses to compensate them, said on Thursday on France Info on Health Minister, Xavier Bertrand.

Xavier Bertrand said Wednesday after final negotia tions with Servier implementation by the summer of a public fund to compensate victims of the Mediator, hailed by victims’ representatives.

This fund will be managed by the National Compensation medical accidents, iatrogenic and nosocomial infections (Oniam).

“The Oniam will receive the request of a victim of the Mediator. It set forth the facts and turn immediately to the first charge, the laboratory Servier” asking “to directly compensate the person for a specific amount,” a detailed Minister.

“And if Servier continued to persist, but now we have exceeded the limits of the unspeakable, the Oniam to return to the laboratory (him) calling penalties,” he added.

“It does not pay to replace Servier,” insisted Mr. Bertrand, lamenting that the lab has “in mind to protect its financial interests.”

Asked about the responsibility of the state in the record, the minister acknowledged that there had been a “failure of the police of the drug,” recalling that legal actions were “in progress”.

“The responsibility is ours, is to not let the victims in the front line Servier. The State has to get in line first to ensure that compensation,” he said.

Xavier Bertrand announced Wednesday the establishment before the summer of a public fund for compensation. “The minister will propose to the Prime Minister and President of the Republic the establishment by law of a compensation fund for victims of the Mediator,” the ministry said in a statement.

The goal is that “these laws can be enacted before the summer,” he added.

The minister spoke by telephone with representatives of associations after a 5th exchange between Servier and Claire Favre, the magistrate appointed by the government into negotiations with the French pharmaceutical group.

“The latest proposal is unacceptable Laboratoires Servier,” said the ministry, despite the “developments”. She maintains a partial compensation of victims and the waiver of any possibility of civil damages in court.

The system envisaged by the government would “propose to all victims of a single, managed by the National Compensation for medical accidents, iatrogenic and nosocomial infections (ONIAM),” the ministry said.

“It would provide full compensation to victims while guaranteeing their right to bring criminal charges if they so wished,” he said the ministry. Victims’ associations would be “involved in its governance.”

The ministry also stressed that “there is no question that national solidarity pays instead of the first charge, Laboratoires Servier.

The president of the Association of Victims of Mediator and Isomeride (AVIM), Dominique Courtois, has “welcomed” the announcement to AFP, stressing that public funds would cover “all victims the Mediator, without distinction, “as the association claimed.

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