French court finds state responsible over drug linked to birth defects

PARIS: A court on Thursday ordered the French state to pay tens of thousands of euros in damages after finding it responsible in a case over birth defects linked to an anti-epilepsy drug produced by pharmaceutical giant Sanofi. The French court ordered the state to compensate three families who filed complaints after the women took the medicine and gave birth to children with congenital malformations, autism or learning difficulties. The court ruled that Sanofi and doctors who prescribed the drug Depakine were also responsible, in a scandal that has left between 15,000 and 30,000 children affected, studies have found. The state has been ordered to compensate the three families between 20,000 and 200,000 euros ($22,500-225,000), depending on the date of birth of the five children who are now aged between 11 and 35.