Frédérique Royer , 51, Rémoise living in Tagnon in the Ardennes and working in Charleville-Mézières, was prescribed cyproterone acetate from 2006 to 2018, as a contraceptive and anti-acne. This molecule is sold under the name of Androcur (Bayer), or its credits

Cyproterone (Biogaran). In 2018, a bulky brain tumor, called meningioma , was detected, requiring an emergency operation and causing physical, moral and cognitive consequences. In 2019, the patient assigned to the court her gynecologist, in Courlancy, and the Biogaran laboratory. In France, dozens of procedures are launched. The risks of Androcur and its generics have been reported since 2008. It was not until 2018 that the authorities warned against this medication. ( /Art/110703/Article/2018-09-08/PRESCRIC-90000-FEMS- L-ANDROCUR-MULTIPLY-LES-RISQUE-DE-TUMUM-AU-AU-AU-AU-AU-ERVEAU) 400,000 French women took Androcur from 2006 to 2015 ; At least 500 had a tumor from the meninges. Androcur or its generics officially treat extreme hair in women, and prostate cancer in humans. But it has been shown that this hormonal treatment has been widely diverted, with 80 % of prescriptions out of AMM (marketing authorization), as contraceptive, against endometriosis, acne ...

When did you start taking it?

Frédérique Royer: I started in 2006, for contraceptive and skin reasons . He brought me real comfort. It was quite normally prescribed, like a pill. I took it over ten years, with a few interruptions.

In 2018, what happened?

violent rehearsal migraines To the point that my doctor prescribed an emergency scanner to me. Just after the exam in Reims, I was asked not to get up. We made a diagnosis that I did not understand: a meningioma , I did not know what it was. "I was told that I had " a tumor wholesale as an orange in my head " . It was very brutal" .

I was told that I was going to be hospitalized. The sky fell on my head, especially since they did not take gloves. I was told that I had "a tumor wholesale as an orange in my head" . It was very brutal. I collapsed.

It was ultimately the neurosurgeon who explained to you what you had ... Professor Litré operated me ten days later. He managed to remove the whole tumor, which was not won because it was very large (6 x 6 x 5 cm, note) and poorly placed, in the temple. I'm not saying it's God, but almost. He saved my life. He has always been very clear in his explanations. It was he who, the first, made the link with the Androcur , whom he asked me to stop immediately. It was he who explained to me that the meningiomas were not cancer tumors , no one had thought of telling me ... I made him blind confidence , even if I was shocked by the risks of such an operation. I could remain disabled, or fall asleep and never wake up. The operation lasted a whole day, I did a significant hemorrhage and I was transfused. It still traumatizes me, I have the impression that life left me at some point during the operation.

Two years later, the expert who met you reports "psychotraumatic" consequences.

Shocking images come back to me. I think of death. I also have physical consequences, with an important scar on the head and a hollow at the right temple. I see it every day. I have attention and concentration disorders. I can no longer finish a book. I find it hard to remember a film I just saw. I am unable to retain a phone number. I have an altered memory, I will have to do cognitive rehabilitation. I also get lost very easily. When I go from my house, I have to take a picture of the streets to remember my way. I get tired very quickly. I was passionate about riding and swimming, but I no longer feel capable of it ... You have brought legal action against your gynecologist and the Biogaran laboratory, which produces the generic version of Androcur.

Why is it important in your eyes?

At the beginning, I had an anger, a rage in me, I wanted to the whole earth ... And little by little, I calmed down, with the help of my family, my three children. But I need to understand. I do this to obtain compensation .

Article on the site here

https://abonne.lunion.fr/id213266/article/2020-12-06/une-remoise-traitee-landrocur-pent-plus-de-plus-de-plus-de-plus-de-plus-de-plus-de-plus-de -10 Ans-Ce-medicament-fai-me? Fbclid = iWar1x3mHutrqs5Mi0rikgcxgvixPyamjdw4Hmjgjiss-T1WLROTDC0W7AC0

The Biogaran laboratory, which markets cyproterone (generic of
Androcur) taken by Frédérique Royer, was brought to justice on May 2, 2019
by the patient. The expertise ordered by the Reims court demonstrates that
the voluminous brain tumor operated in 2018 is "very
likely attributable" to the medication received for years.
Contacted, Biogaran refuses to express themselves: “The procedure being in progress,
we do not want to express ourselves at this stage. »»

Regarding Bayer, who produced the Androcur, the Rémoise had also assigned it
in spring 2019. But as it especially took, for more than
ten years, the generic formula of the medication (it was only treated at Androcur
in early 2018), its lawyer and she finally decided not to
continue the German laboratory. However, the latter does not lack
procedures in progress.

Emmanuelle Huet-Mignaton , suffering from endometriosis, took Androcur
from 2003 to 2017, the year when five tumors were detected, including one as
big as that of Frédérique Royer. She had to undergo three operations, which
led to school problems. Today she chairs
AMAVEA, association of victims of meningiomas, created in January 2019 and
approved in July 2020 by the Ministry of Health.

How many members have amavea?
We have nearly 300 members. We have all been operated on with
meningiomas (tumors of the meninges), we all have more
or less serious, physical or cognitive consequences, in particular language disorders
, sight, epilepsy crises ... It is very important for us
to be officially approved, it is a form of recognition, in relation
to what certain doctors can think, or the distressing nonsense that
we can read on social networks.

How many women have been treated with Androcur or its
generic equivalent, and how many have developed tumors?

In 2011, when Bayer changed the instructions for his medication to add the
risk of meningioma, 160,000 women took it. When the vast study
of the Medicines Agency and the CNAM was carried out, in 2017-2018,
there were still 89,000. Since the Méningioma Surryque
was finally recognized (ten years after the first alerts of doctors!), There are only
10,000 women who take it. The study by ANSM and CNAM
showed that between 2006 and 2015, more than 400,000 women were treated with
cyproterone acetate, the name of the molecule, and at least 500 have had
a tumor. There are undoubtedly more, first because we only counted the
tumors operated (some are not because they are too badly placed, or
because they regress after the stop of the Androcur); Then because we did not
take into account the meningiomas that occurred after 2015.

In your eyes, are we faced with a new health scandal, and
does the AMAVEA advise the victims to launch legal actions?

The Androcur is a health scandal, like the Mediator it multiplies up to 20 times the risk of a
tumor. In 2018, the Minister of Health (Agnès Buzin, Editor's note) had
said that they are benign tumors, because they are non-cancerous,
when we get our skulls open in half to remove them, it is not so
benin ... There are several dozen procedures in progress and we
accompany them with Me Joseph-Oudin, lawyer for the victims of the Mediator and
the Désakine. It is important for the victims that they obtain
compensation. Originally, the Androcur should only have been prescribed for women
for hirsutism (extreme hair), but 80 % of the prescriptions were
made for other reasons. Laboratories and gynecologists must
be accountable.