PARIS (AP) — A Paris court has handed hundreds of millions of euros in damages and fines to a French pharmaceutical company for its role in one of the nation’s biggest modern health scandals. The court found Servier Laboratories guilty of manslaughter and other charges for selling a diabetes drug blamed for hundreds of deaths. The ruling capped a judicial marathon targeting Servier Laboratories and involving more than 6,500 plaintiffs. The mammoth case centered on the diabetes drug Mediator. Servier was accused of putting profits ahead of patients’ welfare by allowing the drug to be widely and irresponsibly prescribed as a diet pill with deadly consequences. Servier argued that it didn’t know about the drug’s dangers.
