The plaintiffs were granted a victory in appeal against Merck in the record of the change of formula of Levothyrox. The court " has declared admissible the call of civil parties and [...] held that Merck had committed a fault ", said to the press, Me Christophe Leguevaques, their lawyer. The company was ordered to pay 1 000 euros to each of the complainants, under the " moral damage ".
The legal director of Merck, Florent Bensadoun, has considered this decision "totally incomprehensible" and said the company would lodge an appeal. In the first instance, the complainants had been rejected, the judges lyonnais dismissing any fault of Merck in the launch in 2017 of the new Levothyrox, that its users accused of causing multiple side effects. "The important thing for the civil parties was that their situation, their pain, their unhappiness, are recognised by the justice," welcomed Me Leguevaques.
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Headaches, insomnia...
If any 800 users Levothyrox have abandoned the procedure after the first-instance decision, 3 329 the plaintiffs had decided to continue their battle call. They demanded a compensation of 10 000 euro per person – or 33 million euros in total. During the call, the pharmaceutical industry has kept the same line of defence, and reiterated that it could not provide information directly to patients. Prohibited by law.
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The new formula of the drug prescribed for hypothyroidism, modifying some of its excipients in order to bring more stability to the product, has been accused, between march 2017 and April 2018, by some 31 000 patients suffering from headache, insomnia, dizziness, etc By June 2019, the Agency of the drug/MSNA published the results of a study of pharmaco-epidemiology conducted on more than two million patients, according to which the transition to the new formula of the Levothyrox did not cause " serious health problems ".
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"Normal and comparable to the old" formula
an estimated 2.5 million patients are using the new formula of the Levothyrox, according to Merck, "less than 100,000" taking the old formula imported from by the end of 2017 under the name Euthyrox. Five alternatives to basic levothyroxine is also available on the market. For the lab, the rising adverse effects on the new formula are now " normal and comparable to the old ". France was the first country where this formula was introduced. Since then, it has been in fifteen countries of the european Union, without difficulty, adds Merck. The matter, in criminal cases, a judicial investigation against X, educated by the health division of the TGI of Marseille for alleged aggravated tort of deceit, homicide, and unintentional injury and endangering the life of others.
