Actos News

First Actos Bladder Cancer Trial Underway in Los Angeles
Friday, March 1, 2013

Attorneys have delivered their opening statements in the first Actos bladder cancer trial which is currently underway in California state court. The Actos case, brought by plaintiff Jack Cooper against Osaka, Japan-based Actos manufacturer Takeda Pharmaceuticals, began on February 19, 2013 at the Central Civil West Courthouse, Superior Court of California in Los Angeles. It is the first trial of thousands of similar pending lawsuits alleging that the blockbuster diabetes drug Actos led to an increased risk of developing bladder cancer.

Mr. Cooper, a former Pacific Bell employee, claims that he developed terminal bladder cancer after taking Actos to treat his diabetes. The 79-year-old plaintiff was described as “gravely ill” in a ruling made by Judge Kenneth Freeman in which he ordered that Mr. Cooper’s trial date be expedited.

In his lawsuit, Mr. Cooper alleges that Takeda failed to properly warn him and other consumers about the link between Actos and bladder cancer, further claiming that the company knew or should have known about the bladder cancer risk before the drug was even approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1999.

Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman’s lead Actos attorneys Michael Baum and Cynthia Garber, are attending the trial. Both Mr. Baum and Ms. Garber have been appointed to the Actos Plaintiffs Steering Committee (PSC) which oversees all of the cases filed in the Judicial Council Coordinated Proceedings (JCCP 4696). They will be following this first Actos trial very closely. As members of the PSC, Mr. Baum and Ms. Garber help manage the complex pharmaceutical litigation typically involved in mass tort litigation of this type. Baum Hedlund is currently representing dozens of clients across the country who took Actos and developed bladder cancer.

Mr. Cooper’s lawsuit is one of over 175 claims which have been consolidated in the JCCP Actos cases under Judge Kenneth Freeman. Another 1,200 or so similar Actos bladder cancer claims have been consolidated in federal court in the MDL6:11-md-2299 (multidistrict litigation) before Judge Rebecca Doherty. The first federal Actos bladder cancer trial is set to begin in January 2014 in Louisiana.

The Actos trial can be watched online via Courtroom View Network.