The Actos Bladder Cancer trial in West Virginia state court is set to start over allegations that Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s popular diabetes drug Actos causes bladder cancer. The West Virginia trial comes shortly on the heels of a $2 million verdict in Philadelphia on October 3 over the blockbuster drug. It will be only the eighth case to go to trial out of thousands filed.
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., was slammed by the jury, and ordered to pay more than $2 million to a plaintiff who claimed that the company’s Actos diabetes medicine caused her bladder cancer. This was the latest Actos trial over bladder cancer claims from the medication.Jurors in state court in Philadelphia deliberated more than five hours before finding that the Japan-based Takeda failed to properly warn Frances Wisniewski’s doctors about Actos’s cancer risk.
According to Wisniewski’s attorney, Mike Miller, the jury found Takeda “clearly failed to warn, and it clearly caused her damage. She’s got a life of bladder cancer; it’s a fair verdict,” he added.
Takeda Knew in 2004 of Cancer Link
According to Miller, Takeda knew by 2004 that studies found links between Actos and cancer, and didn’t issue a warning until seven years later to protect billions of dollars in Actos sales.
Takeda Put “Profits Before People”
“Takeda chose to protect profits rather than patients,” Miller said in closing arguments in Wisniewski’s trial. The company’s main goal was “to protect the product,” Miller added.
Actos 7th Bladder Cancer Trial
Wisniewski, a retired accountant who has bladder cancer, is the seventh Actos patient to take her product liability, personal injury claim to trial. In the 6th Actos trial earlier in the year, there was a massive $9 billion verdict handed down in Louisiana against Takeda and Eli Lilly & Co. for hiding the diabetes medicine’s cancer risks. The case is heading for an appeal.
3,500 Actos Bladder Cancer Lawsuits in Federal Court
Takeda, tanked another diabetes drug this year when research linked it to liver damage. More than 3,500 Actos suits have been consolidated before U.S. District Judge Rebecca Doherty in Lafayette, Louisiana, for pretrial discovery, in what is known as Multidistrict Litigation (MDL).
4,500 Actos Bladder Cancer Lawsuits in State Court
The company is exposed to another 4,500 cases in state courts in Illinois, West Virginia, California and Pennsylvania. Can over 8,000 plaintiffs be wrong, with more injured folks waiting the wings?
Actos: Blockbuster Drug Huge Profits
According to Bloomberg, sales of Actos maxed out in March 2011 at $4.5 billion for Takeda and accounted for 27 percent of the company’s revenue. Actos has pumped out more than $16 billion in sales since its 1999 release.
Wisniewski and other users allege that Takeda researchers ignored or downplayed concerns about the Actos bladder cancer links before it went on sale in the U.S. and misled U.S. regulators about the diabetic medication risks.
Key Documents Destroyed
The jury found that the Takeda officials intentionally destroyed documents about the development, marketing and sales of Actos. The company ditched files of 46 former and current employees, including those of top executives in Japan and U.S. sales representatives. “We’ll never know what was in those documents,” Miller said.
Actos Verdicts
In 2013, juries in California and Maryland ordered Takeda to pay a combined $8.2 million in damages. But those verdicts later were tossed out by judges. The company also won defense verdicts recently in two cases in state court in Las Vegas. Takeda faces its next Actos trial in state court in West Virginia starting October 15.
The Pennsylvania case is Wisniewski v. Takeda Pharmaceuticals America Inc., 120702272, Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas. The consolidated Actos case in Louisiana is In Re Actos (Pioglitazone) Products Liability Litigation, 11-md-02299, U.S. District Court, Western District of Louisiana (Lafayette).
