Research & Development World

  • R&D World Home
  • Topics
    • Aerospace
    • Automotive
    • Biotech
    • Careers
    • Chemistry
    • Environment
    • Energy
    • Life Science
    • Material Science
    • R&D Management
    • Physics
  • Technology
    • 3D Printing
    • A.I./Robotics
    • Software
    • Battery Technology
    • Controlled Environments
      • Cleanrooms
      • Graphene
      • Lasers
      • Regulations/Standards
      • Sensors
    • Imaging
    • Nanotechnology
    • Scientific Computing
      • Big Data
      • HPC/Supercomputing
      • Informatics
      • Security
    • Semiconductors
  • R&D Market Pulse
  • R&D 100
    • Call for Nominations: The 2025 R&D 100 Awards
    • R&D 100 Awards Event
    • R&D 100 Submissions
    • Winner Archive
    • Explore the 2024 R&D 100 award winners and finalists
  • Resources
    • Research Reports
    • Digital Issues
    • R&D Index
    • Subscribe
    • Video
    • Webinars
  • Global Funding Forecast
  • Top Labs
  • Advertise
  • SUBSCRIBE

Servier, Lab Founder in Drug Scandal, Dies at 92

By R&D Editors | April 18, 2014

In this May 21, 2013 file photo, Jacques Servier, founder of Servier Laboratories, is pictured during the opening of the trial of the so-called Mediator case, a drug allegedly linked to hundreds of deaths, at Nanterre's court house, outside Paris. Servier, the founder of France's second-largest pharmaceutical group who became ensnared in a scandal over a diabetes drug widely used for weight loss, has died. He was 92. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)Jacques Servier, the founder of France’s second-largest pharmaceutical group who became ensnared in a scandal over a diabetes drug widely used for weight loss, has died.
 
Servier Research Group announced the death of 92-year-old Servier late Wednesday.
 
Servier and his lab were at the center of one of France’s biggest health scandals, in which the drug Mediator was alleged to be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people. The European Medicines Agency pulled Mediator from shelves when it found that its active ingredient, benfluorex, could lead to a dangerous thickening of heart valves. The ingredient is a derivative of fenfluramine, whose use in a diet drug in the U.S. was linked to similar problems.
 
In a statement, the lab said Servier’s “life revolved around the research of innovative medicines.”
 
But in recent years, Servier was best known for the troubles with Mediator, and his frail appearance last year in a French courtroom did little to win him sympathy in the case.
 
“The victims must be reassured: The death of Jacques Servier will delay but not bring an end to justice,” said Irene Frachon, the physician who was among the first to uncover problems linked to the drug.
 
In the case against Servier and his lab, the court claimed the nature of benfluorex was hidden to obtain approval for the drug, first marketed in 1976 and taken by more than 5 million people. It alleged the drug, often prescribed as a hunger suppressant, was behind the deaths of between 500 and 2,000 people over more than three decades.
 
Date: April 17, 2014
Source: Associated Press

Related Articles Read More >

2025 R&D layoffs tracker: 83,543 and counting
Health-related innovation in Morocco highlighted by resident inventor patenting activity
ARPA-H funds $29M Ginkgo-led project to reshore pharma supply chains using wheat germ tech
DNA microscope offers new 3D view of organisms from the inside out
rd newsletter
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest info on technologies, trends, and strategies in Research & Development.
RD 25 Power Index

R&D World Digital Issues

Fall 2024 issue

Browse the most current issue of R&D World and back issues in an easy to use high quality format. Clip, share and download with the leading R&D magazine today.

Research & Development World
  • Subscribe to R&D World Magazine
  • Enews Sign Up
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • Pharmaceutical Processing
  • Global Funding Forecast

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search R&D World

  • R&D World Home
  • Topics
    • Aerospace
    • Automotive
    • Biotech
    • Careers
    • Chemistry
    • Environment
    • Energy
    • Life Science
    • Material Science
    • R&D Management
    • Physics
  • Technology
    • 3D Printing
    • A.I./Robotics
    • Software
    • Battery Technology
    • Controlled Environments
      • Cleanrooms
      • Graphene
      • Lasers
      • Regulations/Standards
      • Sensors
    • Imaging
    • Nanotechnology
    • Scientific Computing
      • Big Data
      • HPC/Supercomputing
      • Informatics
      • Security
    • Semiconductors
  • R&D Market Pulse
  • R&D 100
    • Call for Nominations: The 2025 R&D 100 Awards
    • R&D 100 Awards Event
    • R&D 100 Submissions
    • Winner Archive
    • Explore the 2024 R&D 100 award winners and finalists
  • Resources
    • Research Reports
    • Digital Issues
    • R&D Index
    • Subscribe
    • Video
    • Webinars
  • Global Funding Forecast
  • Top Labs
  • Advertise
  • SUBSCRIBE