Actos News

Jury Finds Takeda Negligent in Second Actos Trial
September 27, 2013

Takeda Pharmaceuticals is now 0 for 2 when it comes to convincing juries that it has acted responsibly in warning physicians and consumers of the link between its diabetes drug, Actos, and bladder cancer.

According to several sources (including Bloomberg News and pharmalive.com),  a Maryland state court jury yesterday ordered Takeda to pay $1.7 million in damages to the family of a former U.S. Army translator who died of bladder cancer in 2012. Diep An began taking Actos in 2007 and was diagnosed with bladder cancer in September 2011. The jury found that Takeda negligently failed to adequately warn An’s doctor of the risk of bladder cancer from Actos and that the failure to warn was a substantial factor in causing An to develop the disease.

However, the jurors also found that An “failed to exercise reasonable and ordinary care for his own health and safety, and that his failure was a substantial factor in causing him to develop bladder cancer.”  Under Maryland law, that finding required the judge to immediately overturn the verdict. A guilty verdict in the first Actos trial was also nullified by the judge, though that ruling is being appealed. Nevertheless, with some 3,000 similar lawsuits looming ahead, the prospect of Takeda continuing to emerge unscathed from its legal battles appears to be rapidly diminishing.

This is the second jury that has found Takeda negligent for failing to adequately warn physicians and consumers of the link between Actos and bladder cancer. Evidence that Takeda actively plotted to conceal the link appears to be compelling for jurors.

In addition, research continues to demonstrate that Actos causes bladder cancer. In May of 2012, a study of over 115,000 patients with type 2 diabetes, published in the British Medical Journal, found that use of Actos (generic name, pioglitazone) nearly doubles the rate of bladder cancer. Importantly, this study, like many others, found that the rate increased with duration of use and cumulative dosage, a result that suggests a strong association between the drug and cancer.