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Stalinon was designed in the early 1950s as a treatment for boils (furunculosis) and, as a treatment for staphylococcal infection was authorized in November 1953 to be sold in France, without prescription, by pharmacist Georges Feuillet, based on a grossly improper clinical trial using a small fraction of the intended and later supplied concentration of medication. Anomalies appeared quickly: the medicine was sold in a form that was supposed to be clear, but had a precipitate, alerts from doctors and pharmacists starting in May 1954 were ignored.

Faced with doctors' alerts, Feuillet was reassuring and discreetly orders a reduced concentration in future preparations. Victims were suffering from neurological disorders, as well as serious psychological disorders. Cases of poisonings accumulate, until an undeniable toxicity is made public in June 1954. Delivery of the product was suspended in 1954. Stalinon caused over 100 deaths, and several hundred severe and disabling side effects, commonly including loss of visual acuity, chronic headaches, and motor neuron disorders up to leg paralysis.^[1]

1. ^ ""Stalinon": a Therapeutic Disaster". BMJ. 1 (5069): 515–515. 1958-03-01. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.5069.515. ISSN 0959-8138. PMC 2027780.

1. British Medical Journal Publishing Group, Stalinon: a Therapeutic Disaster, Br Med J, vol. 1, no 5069, 1er mars 1958, p. 515–515 (ISSN 0007-1447 et 1468-5833, DOI 10.1136/bmj.1.5069.515.
2. Bonah Christian, Gaudillière Jean-Paul, Faute, accident ou risque iatrogène? La régulation des événements indésirables du médicament à l'aune des affaires Stalinon et Distilbène, Revue française des affaires sociales, 2007, p. 123-151.
3. Corinne Lalo et Patrick Solal, Le livre noir du médicament, Place des éditeurs, 10 novembre 2011, 351 p. (ISBN 978-2-259-21646-3).
4. Jean-Pierre Anger, L'étain et les organoétains dans l'environnement, Annales de toxicologie analytique, 2001.
5. Marc Cramer, L'affaire du Stalinon et le contrôle des médicaments en Suisse, La Croix-Rouge suisse, 1959.
6. Christian Bonah, L'affaire du Stalinon et ses conséquences réglementaires, 1954-1959, La revue du praticien, 15 September 2007.
7. Bertrand. Poirot-Delpech, M. Feuillet, N'est pas un imprudent, c'est un criminel, Le Monde, 8 November 1957.
8. Bertrand Poirot-Delpech, L'inventeur du produit ne contrôlait pas les livraisons de ses fournisseurs. Les médecins-experts sont d'accord sur les méfaits de la drogue, Le Monde, 30 October 1957.
9. La délivrance du médicament "Stalinon" est suspendue, Le Monde, 6 July 1954.
10. Bertrand Poirot-Delpech, « La plupart des victimes sont des enfants », Le Monde, 9 November 1957.
11. Laure-Marine Chemin, L'évolution du rôle du pharmacien d'officine français en tant qu'acteur de santé, 2014.
12. Anne Crignon, Un scandale sanitaire, Bibliobs, 23 May 2011.

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