Merck KGaA ( OTCPK:MKGAF ) ( OTCPK:MKKGY ) has been put under probe by a French court for allegedly issuing misleading information related to its thyroid drug Levothyrox, Reuters reported .
The German drugmaker said the ruling by the judge in Marseille was not related to the new formula for the Levothyrox product, but the way it provided information when changing from the old formula to the new formula, the report added.
In March, France's top court Cour de Cassation affirmed a 2020 Lyon appeal court decision which ordered Merck to pay €1K each as compensation to over 3.3K people with thyroid problems in France after it changed the formula of the medicine in 2017, according to the report.
The plaintiffs in the case alleged that Merck did not provide sufficient information related to changes to the product. The people alleged that the company's decision to remove lactose from the medicine for easier handling led to side effects such as memory loss, weight gain and palpitations, the report noted.
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Merck KGaA to be probed in France over thyroid drug levothyrox