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Takeda Concealed Actos Bladder Cancer
Link, Kentucky Couple Claims

Los Angeles, California, April 20, 2012 - - Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman, P.C. has filed an Actos lawsuit (case no. BC483069) against Japanese-based Takeda Pharmaceuticals and its subsidiaries and Eli Lilly on behalf of Kentucky resident William Pierce and his wife Sharon Pierce, claiming the diabetes drug Actos caused his bladder cancer. (Takeda Limited, one of the company’s subsidiaries, collaborated with Eli Lilly to promote and market Actos in North America, according to the complaint.)

The Actos lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, seeks compensatory damages on behalf of William Pierce and his wife who allege personal injury caused by Actos, including; bladder cancer and related sequelae (an aftereffect of disease, etc.), pain and suffering, bodily impairment, mental anguish, diminished enjoyment of life as well as economic loss and other special damages.

The plaintiffs allege that Takeda Pharmaceuticals knew or should have known that Actos use in humans would cause bladder cancer and that Takeda possessed pre-clinical scientific studies, including animal evidence, which signaled that bladder cancer risk needed to be further tested; all prior to Takeda applying for and obtaining approval for Actos (pioglitazone hydrochloride). In fact, plaintiffs allege that Takeda has known since the early 2000’s that human clinical trials revealed Actos causes bladder cancer.

Takeda and Eli Lilly also violated the Kentucky Consumer Protection Act, according to the complaint, by engaging in unfair, false, misleading and deceptive acts and practices with intent to induce members of the public to purchase and use Actos and pioglitazone hydrochloride.

Specifically, the lawsuit claims that the defendants represented through advertising to Mr. Pierce, his doctors and the general public, that Actos was safe for human consumption and had fewer side effects and adverse reactions than other Type 2 Diabetes medications (like Avandia), knowing these representations to be false, and concealing that Actos had a serious propensity to cause injuries. Further, that Takeda purposely downplayed and understated the health hazards associated with Actos and pioglitazone hydrochloride, all the while becoming unjustly enriched by billions of dollars in ill-gotten gains from the sale and prescription of Actos.

The Pierces’ attorney, Cynthia Garber, also an R.N., stated that “With the knowledge of the risk associated with long term use of Actos and bladder cancer, Takeda achieved its marketing goal by making Actos the tenth best-selling medication in America in 2008. All while placing our client and other American citizens at risk of developing bladder cancer. Takeda had a responsibility to warn healthcare workers and patients of the risks of bladder cancer associated with Actos. Instead, they watched profits soar with tight lips.”

Canada is the latest country to issue a warning about Actos’ risk of causing bladder cancer.  Just yesterday, Health Canada issued a safety advisory stating that new findings reveal that there is a potential increased risk of bladder cancer in patients treated with Actos. The warning is based on available data that reveals a link with a potential increased risk of bladder cancer in diabetic patients treated with pioglitazone in particular in patients treated for the longest durations and with the highest total doses. Health Canada also stated that a possible risk after short term treatment cannot be excluded.

In June of 2011, France and Germany announced their plans to suspend the use of drugs containing pioglitazone. Both countries decided to suspend the drug after a French study showed a statistically significant risk for bladder cancer among patients taking pioglitazone.

The FDA has yet to suspend Actos in the U.S., but on June 15, 2011 the FDA did issue a Public Safety Announcement informing the public that use of the diabetes medication Actos (pioglitazone) for more than one year may be associated with an increased risk of bladder cancer.

About Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman, P.C.

Baum Hedlund has filed other Actos bladder cancer lawsuits in state and federal courts against Takeda.

The firm has successfully represented clients harmed by medications in over 4,000 individual personal injury and wrongful death cases, in addition to representing consumers in multiple pharmaceutical class actions against major pharmaceutical companies such as Alpha Therapeutic, Armour Pharmaceutical Co., Baxter Health Care Corp, Bayer Corp., Dalkon Shield, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, and Pfizer.

The team of Baum Hedlund lawyers working on the Actos bladder cancer cases have an in depth understanding of biomedical research, clinical trials, statistics, the pharmaceutical industry and marketing, as well as successful and effective discovery procedures and extensive work with experts on complicated scientific issues because of their years of experience related to Baum Hedlund’s past pharmaceutical litigation.

Read the Pierce Actos Lawsuit here