Servier boss quits presidency of France's G5

Jacques Servier, founder of the drugmaker embroiled in the scandal concerning Mediator, the withdrawn diabetes treatment linked to the deaths of up to 2,000 people, is to step down as president of the French industry defence group G5.

G5, which consists of Sanofi-Aventis, Ipsen, Pierre Fabre, LFB and Servier, issued a statement saying that "due to exceptional circumstances affecting his laboratory", the 88-year-old head of the latter is stepping down to devote time to "the defence of his group at this particular time". It would appear there is a lot of defending to do, as Dr Servier is due in court on February 11 to face accusations in a lawsuit brought by alleged victims and their relatives that the company did not behave in a transparent way and made misleading claims about Mediator (benfluorex). The drug was withdrawn in France in November 2009 after reports that it had caused 500 deaths in the 30-odd years it had been on the market. 

via pharmatimes.com

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