Patients who took a controversial French weight-loss drug that caused the deaths of hundreds of people have filed a criminal lawsuit against the pharmaceutical giant Servier...The medical world is reeling from a French government health-warning that people who took the amphetamine derivative Mediator must immediately see their doctor...Despite fears over the drug's lethal side-effects, Mediator stayed on the market in France for over 30 years and was only banned in 2009...The French drug safety body calculated at least 500 deaths and 3,500 hospital admissions had been caused by the drug...The pharmaceutical company dismissed as "extrapolation" the official calculation...Jacques Servier asked in Le Monde whether the scandal was a "fabrication" designed to "annoy" the government. A similar appetite suppressent drug, Isomeride, sold by Servier was withdrawn in 1997 over risks of high blood pressure, and several patients sued...