Actos Bladder Cancer 2nd Trial

As a Texas Actos bladder cancer attorney and medical doctor, I am providing this timely update on the current Actos litigation.

Why is Takeda Liable?

When a pharmaceutical drug manufacturer has knowledge about its drug’s adverse potential and real side effects, the manufacturer has a duty to warn patients and medical doctors about those risks.

Under the law, this is the basis for defective drug lawsuits.Takeda Pharmaceuticals is the manufacturer of the blockbuster, type 2 diabetes medication, Actos.

According to court documents, the plaintiffs are alleging  that Takeda pharmaceuticals knew about the risk of bladder cancer with the use of Actos, but failed to warn patients about that risk.

2nd Actos Bladder Cancer Trial Underway

The family of Diep An, a former US Army translator who died less than a year after a diagnosis of high-grade bladder cancer is in trial against Takeda Pharmaceuticals Co.
An was treated with Actos, starting in 2007 for his diabetes. In September 2011, An was diagnosed with high-grade bladder cancer, and he died in January 2012. According to experts, Actos knew back in 2005 that medical studies had demonstrated the increased risk of bladder cancer. The plaintiff’s attorney allege that in spite of this knowledge, Takeda waited six years before issuing a warning about the possible bladder cancer risk.

According to Takeda, An was a former smoker who smoked half a pack of cigarettes a day for 30 years before stopping in 1996. Takeda officials contend smoking may have been the cause of his bladder cancer.

An’s case is the second of more than 3,000 lawsuits suits over Actos to come to trial,  in state and federal courts. Earlier this year, a California jury ordered Takeda to pay $6.5 million in damages to a diabetic who developed bladder cancer. The judge in the case later threw out the verdict. That ruling is on appeal.

FDA Concerns

Plaintiffs allege that Takeda researchers ignored or downplayed concerns about the drug’s cancer-causing potential before it went on sale in the U.S. in 1999, and misled U.S. regulators about the medicine’s risks.

FDA officials found in a 2011 review of a company-sponsored study that some Actos users faced an increased risk of developing bladder cancer. The company pulled the drug off the market in France in 2011. In Germany, the government removed Actos from its reimbursed list of drugs at the same time, according to the company.

Federal MDL in Louisiana

More than 1,200 suits have been consolidated before a federal judge in Louisiana for pretrial discovery. The first federal case is set for trial in January, according to court filings.

The case is: An v. Nieberlein, 24-C12003565, Circuit Court for the City of Baltimore, State of Maryland).