The drug Mediator, the pharmaceutical company Les Laboratoires Servier, appeared on the world market in 1976. It is estimated that over 2 million people have used it since then. Mediator was used as an aid in the fight against obesity in people with diabetes. Many doctors, incl. Pierre Dukan - the creator of the famous protein diet - prescribed it also to he althy people who wanted to lose a few kilograms of excess weight.
AntidiabeticMediator drugis not and has never been registered in Poland. This means that it was not prescribed by Polish doctors to their patients. In 2010, Undersecretary of State Marek Twardowski spoke about the use ofMediator in Poland . In a letter addressed to the Marshal of the Sejm, in connection with a parliamentary question on the use of Mediator, Marek Twardowski explains that "Mediator, as well as any other product containing the active substance benfluorex, is not and has not been authorized in Poland". He also noted that "the minister of he alth did not receive any reports on the side effects of the above drug. However, based on the reports of the European Medicines Agency on the safety and efficacy of the drug, it can be concluded that the administration of drugs containing benfluorex results in an increased risk of heart disease. Benfluorex was approved on the European Union market (including France) for use, in conjunction with an appropriate diet, in the treatment of overweight in diabetic patients. "
According to statistics, about 145 million packages were sold in France alone Mediator. In Spain, Italy and the United States, the sale of this preparation was banned in the 1990s, and in France only in 2009. Currently, there is talk of 500 to 2,000 deaths from cardiac complications after usingMediator. However, this number may be higher, considering the fact that thousands of people suffer from serious cardiovascular diseases caused by taking the drug.
According to research, Mediator mainly contributes to the development offibrillation of heart valves , and consequently to its failure. The head of Les Laboratoires Servier, a concern producing Mediator, was accused in France of manslaughtercausing death. The consequences are also borne by doctors who prescribed the drug as a slimming preparation before it was withdrawn from sale - among themPierre Dukan , the creator of the famous protein diet, who was punished on July 10, 2013 by French medical chamber banned from practicing the profession. The Chamber decided that Dukan behaved unethically by prescribing the drug contrary to its intended use, and must also pay compensation (EUR 6,000) to one of the patients who had heart problems after taking Mediator.