Actos Side Effects Culminate in Lawsuits

Actos is a drug used to treat type 2 diabetes in patients, and has been successful for a time. Recently, however, patients are discovering some of the more serious Actos side effects associated with the medication. Actos, or pioglitazone, is a member of the diabetes drug class known as “thiazolidinediones”, or TZDs. The public was warned by the Food and Drug Administration in August of this year about the possibility of serious side effects, but many patients were unaware of them before they began experiencing these complications.

Actos, and Actos generic formula drugs, work because they lower blood sugar levels in the body and help the body return to normal insulin-absorbing rates, something that is complicated after the onset of type 2 diabetes. Diabetes comes with its own set of side effects, including kidney damage, nerve disorders, sexual dysfunction, amputation of limbs, eyesight deterioration, and heart attack. Actos has been proven helpful in reducing the occurrence of these complications associated with the disease itself.

However, one of the most talked-about side effects of Actos is the link between it

and an increased risk of bladder cancer. Other TZD medications have previously been drawn attention to and recalled because of serious side effects. The first to go was Rezulin, or troglitazone, which was so strongly linked to liver toxicity and damage – even to the point of liver failure – that it was pulled from the market in 2000, three years after it was introduced. The next drug, Avandia, was given a “black box” warning by the FDA after it was linked to heart attack, congestive heart failure, and stroke.

Now, unfortunately, Actos seems to have become the latest controversial TZD drug. Although it has certainly helped many patients manage conditions associated with type 2 diabetes, a disease for which there is no real cure, it has also put many more patients at a much greater risk than they were at before beginning the medication. All side effects that have been associated with TZD medications are extremely dangerous, and can sometimes be fatal.

Because of the severity of the side effects of Actos, many patients have been looking to take legal action against drugmakers. The best way to do this is to contact a personal injury lawyer, or an experienced Actos lawyer with any questions.