How Sanofi Concealed Toxic Releases – Libération

Already convicted in the first instance for its drug deemed defective, the pharmaceutical giant is also suspected of having knowingly neglected the rate of emissions of substances dangerous to health. The court file that “Libé” was able to consult shows that the company was aware of this since 2012.

One health scandal can hide another. The one involving Depakine, from the Sanofi laboratory, is far from having revealed all its secrets. Since its marketing in the 1960s, this antiepileptic drug has caused malformations in 2,150 to 4,100 children and neurodevelopmental disorders in 16,600 to 30,400 children of mothers treated during pregnancy. Useful for the sick (it is on the list of essential medicines established by the World Health Organization), but dangerous for babies, it was banned in 2018 for pregnant women. And the families of victims are still fighting to obtain compensation. Like whistleblower Marine Martin, founder of Apesac, the Association for Aid to Parents of Children Suffering from Anticonvulsant Syndrome, who obtained nearly 285,000 euros in compensation on Monday, September 9. In one of the civil aspects of the case, the Paris judicial court declared Sanofi – which has announced that it intends to appeal – “responsible for a lack of information on the malformation and neurodevelopmental risks of Depakine”, a product that he “knew defective” and that he sold it anyway.

But the victims of Depakine have not yet all been counted, and all responsibilities established. Starting with that of Sanofi, at the Mourenx factory, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, “specializing in the production of active ingredients in nervous system disorders”