The nation’s third trial of an Actos lawsuit involving allegations that long-term use of the Type 2 diabetes drug can cause bladder cancer is now underway in the Eighth Judicial District Court of Nevada for Clark County. The lawsuit was brought on behalf a patient who began taking Actos before bladder cancer warnings were added to the drug’s label in 2011.The complaint accuses Takeda Pharmaceuticals of concealing knowledge of an association between Actos and bladder cancer until the company was forced to make the 2011 label change. The jury hearing the Actos lawsuit is expected to begin deliberations by the middle of December.
Actos Lawsuits
Court records indicate that more than 3,000 Actos lawsuits involving bladder cancer allegations have been filed in courts around the country. More than 2,500 of those claims are pending in a multidistrict litigation now underway in U.S. District Court, Western District of Louisiana. That litigation’s first bellwether trials are scheduled to begin next year
According to court documents, two other Actos lawsuits have gone to trial at the state level, both of which ended with jury decisions favoring plaintiffs. However, a $6.5 million verdict awarded to a Plaintiff in California Superior Court in April was set aside by the judge overseeing the case, and is currently on appeal. (Cooper v. Takeda Pharmaceuticals America Inc., CGC-12-518535, California Superior Court)
A second trial involving Actos and bladder cancer concluded in Maryland State Court in September, with $1.7 million being awarded to the family of a man who died of the disease. However, according to court records, the judge presiding over that trial overturned the verdict in accordance with Maryland law because the jury also found that the decedent’s decades-long smoking habit contributed to the development of the disease.
According to court documents, the Actos litigation began to grow after the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) warned in June 2011 that use of the drug for 12 months or more had been associated with an increased risk of the disease. At that time, the FDA ordered Takeda Pharmaceuticals to add new warnings to the Actos label about its potential to cause bladder cancer.
Long-term users of Actos who have been diagnosed with bladder cancer may be eligible to file an Actos lawsuit against Takeda Pharmaceuticals.
For more information on ACTOS, contact Foulston Law