The trial of French drugmaker Servier and its founder over allegations of misleading patients and authorities about the side effects of a diabetes drug has been delayed so a higher court can consider an appeal by defendants. The Mediator drug is blamed for at least 500 deaths and the case has put authorities under scrutiny for allowing the medicine to remain on sale long after it had been pulled in other European countries. France’s Court of Cassation now has up to three months to hand down a decision after defendants claimed that holding two trials on the same case - one that began last Monday and another due to start in several months - violates their constitutional rights.
