French court dismisses damages claims against Merck over thyroid drug

FILE PHOTO: A logo of drugs and chemicals group Merck KGaA is pictured in Darmstadt, Germany January 28, 2016. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski

LYON, France (Reuters) – A court in the French city of Lyon threw out on Tuesday claims made by 4,113 plaintiffs for damages against Merck over changes to its thyroid drug Levothyrox.

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, but the Lyon court ruled in favor of Merck.

Reporting by Catherine Lagrange; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta/Yves Clarisse

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source: reuters.com