Actos Lawsuit Filed by 14 Plaintiffs Blames Diabetes Drug for Bladder Cancer
Another dangerous drug lawsuit has been filed against Takeda Pharmaceuticals claiming that the drug Actos caused 14 plaintiffs to develop bladder cancer. All of the victims said they were diagnosed with this type of cancer after taking popular type 2 diabetes medication. Also named as defendants are the company's subsidiaries and Eli Lilly.
In their Actos lawsuit, the victims are alleging negligent drug design and marketing. They contend that the defendants knew, or if they didn't then they should have known, that taking Actos for a prolonged period increases the risk of bladder cancer. The plaintiffs want compensatory damages, including medical expenses and pain and suffering.
Although Actos has been available to diabetes users in the US for a number of years, it was just last year that the Food and Drug Administration put out a Drug Safety Communication giving notification that the medication's label had been revised to include a warning that use of the drug for over a year dramatically increases the chances that the patient might develop bladder cancer. The federal agency's safety announcement was issued after an examination of data belonging to a 5-year analysis of an Actos study that was conducted by Takeda. The FDA is now recommending that drugs with pioglitazone not be prescribed to people who already have blood cancer and that those with a history of the disease must be cautious should they choose to take this medication.
Also, there has been more than one study confirming the bladder cancer-Actos link. One of the more recent ones was just published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in August. Based on the study, which the National Institutes of Health funded, Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine are cautioning that thiazolidinedione users who take these drugs for five years or longer are at least twice as likely to receive a bladder cancer diagnosis than patients who are taking other diabetes medications. Actos is a thiazolidinedione medication.
Unfortunately this Actos-cancer connection was not revealed early enough for the many drug users who have developed cancer as a result. Consider how common a disease type 2 diabetes is-285 million are afflicted globally-and how many of these people have been prescribed Actos over the years. According to Upenn.edu, some 15 million Actos prescriptions are issued in the US each year.
For a medication to have such a serious side effect makes it a very dangerous drug. Already, hundreds of Actos lawsuits have been filed in US and state courts, with all federal cases consolidated in one court in Louisiana.
Diabetes Drugs Prescribed to More than 15 Million Americans Raises Risk of Bladder Cancer, Penn Medicine Study Shows, Penn Medicine, August 13, 2012
FDA Drug Safety Communication: Updated drug labels for pioglitazone-containing medicines, FDA, August 4, 2011
Actos Lawsuits Allow Diabetes Patients to Pursue Dangerous Drug Compensation from Takeda Pharmaceuticals America, Inc., Drug Injury Lawyers Blog, August 1, 2012
Pradaxa Lawsuits Seek Damages for Bleeding Injuries, Drug Injury Lawyers Blog, July 25, 2012
If you or someone you love has developed cancer after having taken Actos please contact an experienced Actos injury law firm right away. You want to work with dangerous drug lawyers that are experienced in recovering damages from pharmaceutical companies.