Actos Lawsuit Filed Against Takeda and Eli Lilly

A plaintiff from Visalia, California has filed an Actos lawsuit against Takeda Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly requesting in excess of $50,000 in damages. Betty Peters brings forth this action as a result of physical injuries and mental suffering caused by an unknown Actos bladder cancer risk. Her lawyers state that Actos is a “defective and unreasonably dangerous drug” that shouldn’t be on the market as a treatment for adults with type II diabetes. The case will be heard in Cook County, Illinois as part of consolidated litigation against the manufacturers and promoters of the drug.

Facts of this Actos lawsuit

In 2000, the plaintiff began ingesting Actos, as recommended by her doctor for the treatment of type II diabetes. Eleven years later, she was diagnosed with bladder cancer. As a result, she has suffered life-threatening physical injuries, mental suffering, emotional distress, a lifelong fear of premature death, as well as the need for lifelong medication and treatment.

Timeline of Actos bladder cancer risk

• The FDA approved Actos for the treatment of type II diabetes in 1999.
• According to the lawsuit, clinical studies revealed an Actos bladder cancer risk in animal studies prior to the drug’s approval, but the companies failed to report the results or conduct follow up studies.
• In the early 2000s, a bladder cancer risk became apparent in humans, but Takeda and Lilly failed to disclose this knowledge.
• A three-year study in 2005 identified a statistically significant bladder cancer link to Actos, but the results went unpublished.
• In September 2010, the FDA issued a Safety Announcement that it was reviewing 10 years worth of data from Kaiser Permanente to evaluate the Actos bladder cancer risk.
• At the five-year mark, the FDA reported that the chance of developing bladder cancer increases with the dosage and duration of time taking the drug.
• In 2011, the American Diabetes Association urged more studies to confirm their suspicions that Actos was causing thousands of premature bladder cancer cases.
• Meanwhile, the European Medicine Agency suspended the sale of Actos in France and Germany.
• In June 2011, the FDA announced that pioglitazone-containing drugs like Actos were associated with a 40% increased risk of bladder cancer. The Actos label was changed to reflect this update.
• In July 2011, Takeda issued an Actos recall in France, but continued to sell in the U.S.

Actos litigation

In Actos litigation news, the first lawsuit of 3,000 similar filings was heard in May 2013. The jury awarded $6.5 million to plaintiff Jack Cooper and his wife. However, Judge Kenneth Freeman overturned the verdict in Los Angeles court, stating that the attorneys weren’t able to properly link the former telephone company worker’s bladder cancer to his Actos use.

Testimony from Cooper’s doctor turned out to be “inherently unreliable,” Freeman commented in the 27-page ruling. While the timeline suggests culpability, these facts are not enough to get a conviction. It will be up to the plaintiffs’ lawyers to prove a substantial Actos bladder cancer risk and rule out any doubt about the individual’s family medical history or other causative factors. Cooper’s legal counsel will appeal the post-verdict decision.