Robert J. Boumis  |  March 2, 2015

Category: Legal News

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Actos bladder cancerA group of plaintiffs have recently joined the larger bladder cancer litigation against Takeda Pharmaceuticals over allegations that the type-2 diabetes drug Actos can cause bladder cancer. Several of the new plaintiffs filed wrongful death lawsuits on behalf of their deceased relatives.

In this civil action, 19 new plaintiffs joined the Actos MDL. This included a half-dozen plaintiffs who filed on behalf of themselves and the estate of a loved one who used Actos and passed away from bladder cancer. Like all cancer, bladder cancer can be deadly, especially if it is not caught early. Actos bladder cancer symptoms include pain in the groin, blood in urine, and pain when urinating. But not all patients experience noticeable bladder cancer symptoms until the cancer has already spread, making treatment more difficult and reducing the chance of a positive outcome. As such, it is not uncommon for a person’s next of kin or estate to be the one filing an Actos lawsuit against Takeda.

In fact, several of the patients named in this Actos lawsuit died mere months after their initial diagnosis with bladder cancer. Reportedly, at least one victim went into remission but then was later diagnosed with a relapse of the bladder cancer which quickly took their life. Others in this group of plaintiffs were the actual individuals afflicted with bladder cancer who had either survived the ordeal or were still actively undergoing treatment for bladder cancer.

Actos Bladder Cancer

Actos is a diabetes drug, designed to help control blood sugar in patients specifically with type-2 diabetes. However, evidence has surfaced that patients taking Actos are more likely to develop bladder cancer. In September of 2010, the FDA issued a drug Safety Announcement that included an analysis of FDA data indicating that patients taking Actos to treat their type-2 diabetes had a higher rate of bladder cancer than those that did not take the drug. Other peer-reviewed research echoed the FDA’s initial findings, leading to FDA warnings that taking Actos could increase the risk of bladder cancer.

Actos Multidistrict Litigation

So many Actos bladder cancer lawsuits have been filed that the legal system invoked a process called a multidistrict litigation or MDL. In MDLs, the legal system coordinates similar cases together, allowing all parties involved to save time, money, and other resources. The first bladder cancer lawsuits in the Actos MDL, called bellwether cases, create precedents that are applied to subsequent Actos lawsuits in the MDL, often in bulk. In some ways, this allows the thousands of individual Actos lawsuits to act like a giant Actos class action lawsuit. Once a large MDL like the Actos MDL is underway, it is easier for patients to join the litigation. In this case, a single lawyer or law firm filed the claim for a group of plaintiffs to join the Actos MDL.

The Actos Lawsuit is Case No. 0238, filed within the larger Actos MDL In Re: Actos (Pioglitazone) Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2299, 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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