Rate of Bladder Cancer WithActos Leads To Mounting Lawsuits

On June 15, 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a ‘Drug Safety Communication,’ informing the public that use of the diabetes medication Actos (pioglitazone) for more than one year may be associated with an increased risk of actos bladder cancer. Information about this risk will be added to the Warnings and Precautions section of the label for pioglitazone-containing medicines. In a five-year interim analysis of the Kaiser Permanente Northern California, study, the FDA found that there was no significant increase in the risk for bladder cancer in patients taking pioglitazone. However, it was found that the risk for bladder cancer did grow with increasing dose and use longer than one year. The data showed that pioglitazone treatment for over 12 months carried a 40% increased risk of bladder cancer.

In recent months, dozens of individuals throughout the United States have filed a bladder cancer actos lawsuits, alleging that Takeda pharmaceuticals failed to adequately research their medication or warn about the potential risks associated with use and knowingly sold the drug while being aware of those risks. Plaintiffs indicate that they are bringing the Actos class action to recover money damages, medical monitoring and other relief for all individuals who ingested Actos are having Actos Side effects in the United States or its territories since it was introduced in July 1999.

Consolidation of Actos Lawsuits Into MDL Requested

Actos is the best-selling type II diabetes drug in the world, but over the summer, growing concerns about its possible link to actos bladder cancer reached a crescendo. On June 15, 2011, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) issued a safety communication stating that use of Actos for more than one year may be associated with an increased risk of bladder cancer. That same month, sales of the drug were suspended in France and Germany after a separate study commissioned by French regulators demonstrated an increased risk of bladder cancer associated with actos side effects in people who took it the longest and at the highest cumulative dose. On July 12, Takeda Pharmaceuticals officially recalled Actos from the market in France.

If an Actos MDL is formed, all cases involving allegations that plaintiffs developed bladder cancer from Actos would be transferred to the same judge. In addition, as actos lawyer continue to review and file new complaints in federal courts throughout the United States, those cases would also be transferred into the MDL for pretrial litigation.Actos (pioglitazone) was approved by the FDA to treat Type 2 Diabetes in July, 1999.

Actos Lawsuits Balloon Ahead of MDL Petition

Actos bladder cancer lawsuits could be headed for consolidation in a multidistrict litigation (MDL). Late last month, plaintiffs in one such actos lawsuit petitioned the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistriction Litigation for the consolidation, requesting that all pending and future actos bladder cancer lawsuits in federal courts be transferred to U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois before Judge G. Patrick Murphy.An MDL allows lawsuits associated with a particular product to be coordinated under one judge for pretrial litigation to avoid duplicative discovery, inconsistent rulings and to conserve the resources of the parties, witnesses and the court. When lawsuits are consolidated as a multidistrict litigation, each retains its own identity. 

Concerns about the potential risk of bladder cancer from Actos first surfaced when it was discovered that rats given the drug had a higher rate of bladder tumors. Recent results from an on-going 10 year study, involving nearly 200,000 patients with diabetes, suggests that there may be a risk of bladder cancer from actos side effects the longer the medication is taken.Many have indicated that the FDA should remove Actos from the market in the United States as well, due to the risk of bladder cancer outweighing the potential benefits provided by the medication.

Actos Bladder Cancer: Why Weren’t Patients Warned?

Most of the Actos lawsuits filed by victims of harmful Actos side effects are  focused on the fact that the drug did not warn on its label of one of the most serious side effects that have been linked to the drug—Actos bladder cancer. Cancer is one of the most notorious diseases in our culture, and for good reason. It ravages the body of those it affects, causing them to undergo exhaustive and exhausting treatments which can range from grueling chemotherapy to painful and expensive surgery. The financial and physical cost of cancer, even when it is not fatal, is high—not to mention the psychological cost it takes from patients, their spouses, their children, and their loved ones.

Actos Lawsuit Sites Bladder Cancer as Cause for Patient’s Death

Public Citizen, a prominent consumer watchdog group, has indicate that the risk of actos bladder cancer from Actos is further proof that the diabetes drug needs to be removed from the market, and reinforces their earlier decision to place the drug on their “Do Not Use” list. This warning has come too late for some, as in the case of Robert Hodges, who died as a result of complications due to bladder cancer. Judith Hodges, filed a actos lawsuit on behalf of her late husband, alleging that his years of Actos use caused him to suffer severe, permanent and life-threatening personal injuries, pain, suffering, emotional distress, and a premature death.

Actos (pioglitazone) is a member of a family of drugs called thiazolidinediones, or glitazones, which have been linked to a number of health problems of actos side effects and have not been shown to reduce the risk of a heart attack or heart failure for diabetics,

Actos Lawyers Prepare for Court Battle

Actos is a pharmaceutical medication used to treat Type 2 Diabetes, a condition that affects a large number of people worldwide. It was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of the condition in 1999 and has enjoyed relative success since then. However, including actos bladder cancer, a number of patients have seen a darker side of the drug and have experienced severe Actos side effects.

As anyone familiar with the disease knows, cancer is a serious and sometimes deadly condition that requires harsh and extensive treatment. Actos Lawyers are at court, battling for the patients who have had cancer and are at risk for contracting the disease again, and may never regain the same quality of life they had before.

Actos Side Effects Call Plaintiffs to Action

A significant number of patients of the type 2 diabetes treatment drug Actos have filed lawsuits against drugmaker Takeda because of potentially life-threatening Actos side effects. Most plaintiffs cite bladder cancer as their reason for filing suit. They are accusing Takeda of knowing that the drug caused bladder cancer based on tests on animals, which showed signs of bladder cancer when Actos was administered. Although this was allegedly already known by Takeda, they did apparently nothing to warn plaintiffs about the risk, instead continuing to market the drug. Only in June of 2011 did the Food and Drug Administration release the results of a study that seemed to point to the fact that taking Actos for over a year did, in fact, increase a patient’s chances of getting Actos bladder cancer.

There are such a significant number of cases that have been filed surrounding Actos that plaintiffs have petitioned the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to consolidate the cases into multidistrict litigation by Actos lawyer.