A number of personal injury lawsuits have been filed dealing with both type II diabetes drugs Avandia and Actos. They are both TZD medications, which work by helping reduce body tissue insulin resistance and therefore help diabetics maintain healthy blood sugar levels, but some of the Actos side effects they have been linked to are different. The majority of Actos lawsuits cite bladder cancer as the side effect suffered by the patient, whereas Avandia has been linked much more to heart attacks and other heart problems. A 2007 study showed that Avandia users are about 43 percent more likely than the average person to have a heart attack.
Because of the risk of Avandia heart problems and despite the risk of Actos bladder cancer, a number of health care professionals have been opting to use Actos instead of Avandia to treat type II diabetes because they are such similar medications. In fact, besides heart problems and bladder cancer which were considered unique to Avandia and Actos respectively, side effects of the two drugs are relatively similar--heart failure, water retention, weight gain, and hypoglycemia are all side effects of both medications.
However, a recent study might be changing health professional's minds about whether to use Actos or Avandia--because it looks like the heart risks could be the same. A 2010 study published in the American Heart Association journal, Circulation, linked Actos to a likelihood of heart attack that is comparable if not identical to the risk posed by Avandia. Of the 36,000 Actos and Avandia users taking part in the study, about 4 percent of each group experienced heart failure, heart attack, or death during the time when data was being collected. This information could significantly impact Actos lawsuits in the future.
Actos and Avandia litigation is relatively similar, although they deal overwhelmingly with different side effects. A majority of Actos lawsuits deal with bladder cancer, whereas most Avandia lawsuits have to do with heart attack and other heart problems. However, they both claim that the manufacturers of the respective medications failed to adequately warn patients of the potential risks associated with use of the drugs. This assertion forms the basis for most personal injury lawsuits in courts today.
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