Georgia Man Sues Takeda After Developing Actos Bladder Cancer

A Georgia man who developed bladder cancer after taking the diabetes medication Actos for nearly five years has sued Takeda Pharmaceuticals, the drug’s manufacturer. The plaintiff, Marvin C. Ogle, filed his lawsuit on November 6, 2012 in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois. Ogle’s complaint is one of many Actos lawsuits that have been filed against the drug company by plaintiffs who were diagnosed with bladder cancer after taking the medication.

According to his complaint, Ogle began taking Actos to treat his Type II diabetes in July 2004, and continued taking it for nearly five years, until June 2009. The plaintiff had a CT scan on April 22, 2010, followed by a cytoscopy on April 26, 2010. A year later, on May 13, 2011, he was diagnosed with bladder cancer.

Plaintiff forced to undergo multiple treatments for bladder cancer

Because of his bladder cancer, Ogle has been forced to submit to a battery of invasive tests and treatments, the lawsuit says, including a transurethral resection of the bladder tumor, a bilateral retrograde pyelogram, a left ureteral stent placement, clot evacuation, and Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) treatments. He underwent his most recent treatment in March 2012, but may face additional treatments in future.

Lawsuit accuses Takeda of failure to warn

In his lawsuit, the plaintiff accuses Takeda of failure to warn doctors and patients about the life-threatening side effects of Actos. He states that he was unaware of the link between Actos use and bladder cancer until the FDA issued its June 16, 2011 public warning stating that use of Actos (pioglitazone) for more than one year was associated with an increased risk of bladder cancer. Ogle had taken Actos for almost five years.

The FDA then required Takeda to add a warning for bladder cancer to the Actos label, but the warning came too late for Ogle, who had been diagnosed with bladder cancer a month before the FDA warning was issued. Ogle says that if he had known of the risks associated with Actos, he would not have taken the drug, and that other, safer medications were available that he could have taken instead of Actos, had he been warned.

Ogle’s lawsuit brings counts of failure to warn, defective design, negligence, and negligent misrepresentation, and his wife claims loss of consortium. Ogle seeks $50,000 in damages.

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