Appetite suppressant was probably responsible for 1300 deaths, study shows

A research study into the drug benfluorex (marketed as Mediator), which was withdrawn from the French market in 2009 because of side effects, shows that its use in France during 1976-2009 was probably responsible for around 1300 deaths and 3100 hospital admissions. The study, published in Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety , was carried out by Agnes Fournier and Mahmoud Zureik, two epidemiologists from the Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medical (Inserm) (2012, doi:10.1002/pds.3213). They warn that these figures may be underestimates. Patients who took the appetite-suppressant drug experienced …