Takeda Pharmaceuticals was ordered by a Pennsylvania jury to pay more than $2.3 million to a retired high school teacher who blamed the company’s Actos diabetes drug for causing his bladder cancer. Actos is prescribed to type-2 diabetics and has been subject to massive litigation.

John K. was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2008 after taking Actos for three years. In 2011, he reportedly had to have his bladder removed. That same year, Actos updated its labels to include the risk of bladder cancer. John filed the Actos bladder cancer lawsuit in 2012.

In his case, John alleged that Actos’ manufacturer, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, hid its association with bladder cancer from physicians. The jury concluded that Takeda acted in reckless disregard for patients in developing and marketing Actos.

In addition to the $2.3 million awarded, Takeda was also hit with $1.3 million in punitive damages. Punitive damages are considered punishment for defendants and are awarded only when the defendant’s behavior has caused severe harm. That brings the total damages award against Takeda to $3.6 million.

Throughout trial the jury was shown evidence that Takeda’s sales representatives were told not to bring up the drug’s link to bladder cancer to physicians. Punitive damages are determined to prevent drug makers from engaging in this behavior again.

Actos Lawsuits

Despite the known risk of an extremely debilitating and life-threatening disease, neither Takeda nor the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ever pulled Actos from the market. Actos – which one study links to an 83 percent increased risk of bladder cancer – has been recalled in Germany, India, and France, however. The drug is also associated with liver failure, bone fractures, and heart conditions.

Despite these risks, due in large part to its intense marketing plan, Actos became the world’s best-selling type-2 diabetes drug in 2007.

John is the fifth Actos patient to convince a jury that Takeda’s former top-selling drug causes bladder cancer. Last year, a federal jury in Louisiana ordered Takeda and Eli Lilly & Co., which at one time sold Actos in the United States, to pay $9 billion to a shopkeeper who blamed his Actos cancer on the drug. That award was cut to $36.8 million.

More than 3,500 Actos lawsuits have been consolidated before a federal judge in Louisiana for pretrial information exchanges. The company faces 4,500 more in state courts in places including Illinois, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, according to court records. The company faces its next trial in March in Wisconsin. All of the Actos lawsuits accuse Takeda of negligence for failing to warn about bladder cancer and concealing evidence about Actos side effects. A major factor behind the massive jury awards was Takeda’s destruction of documents.

The Actos MDL is In Re: Actos (Pioglitazone) Products Liability Litigation, 11-md-02299, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.

Do YOU have a legal claim? Fill out the form on this page now for a free, immediate, and confidential case evaluation. The attorneys who work with Top Class Actions will contact you if you qualify to let you know if an individual Actos lawsuit or Actos class action lawsuit is best for you. [In general, Actos bladder cancer lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.] Hurry — statutes of limitations may apply.

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