Drugmaker Merck placed under formal investigation in France over thyroid drug

FILE PHOTO: A cyclist drives past a logo of German drugs and chemicals group Merck KGaA in Darmstadt, Germany January 28, 2016. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski/File Photo

PARIS — Drugmaker Merck said Wednesday it had been placed under formal investigation by a French court for possibly issuing misleading information regarding its thyroid drug product Levothyrox.

Mario-Pierre Stasi, the lawyer for Merck, said the company would continue to co-operate with authorities on the matter and that full legal proceedings must be allowed to run their course.

Merck said the ruling by a judge in the French city of Marseille did not concern in any way the new formula for the Levothyrox product, but the way the company provided information when changing from the old to the new formula.

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In March 2022, France’s highest court, the Cour de Cassation, confirmed a 2020 Lyon appeal court ruling ordering Merck to pay 1,000 euros ($982.30) each to compensate more than 3,300 people suffering from thyroid problems in France after it changed the formula of the drug in 2017.

The plaintiffs had accused Merck of not providing sufficient information regarding changes to the product.

They had said Merck’s decision to remove lactose from the drug to make it easier to handle had resulted in side effects such as memory loss, weight gain, and palpitations.

($1 = 1.0180 euros)