A group of plaintiffs have filed an Actos lawsuit alleging that the type-2 diabetes medication caused serious and permanent injuries, forever altering their lives.

The Actos patients in the bladder cancer lawsuit were all prescribed the drug to manage their diabetes symptoms, in the hopes it would help them maintain a routine life.

Unfortunately, after a year or less of using Actos, each of the plaintiffs allegedly developed the deadly condition of bladder cancer. The plaintiffs have filed this Actos lawsuit against drug maker, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, on the charge of product liability. The plaintiffs involved in the case include the following:

• West Virginia residents Stella Ramsey, Danny Ramsey, and Donna Smith, joined the Actos lawsuit against Takeda Pharmaceuticals on behalf of their loved one, Eugene H. Ramsey, who took Actos from 2003 until 2011. According to the Actos lawsuit, he died of bladder cancer on April 18, 2012.
• Massachusetts resident Edward Lynch is suing Takeda Pharmaceuticals after he developed bladder cancer, alleging that Actos was the cause. He started Actos in 2007 and stayed with the medication until his he was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2012.
• West Virginia resident Thomas O’Hara alleges that Actos caused him to suffer serious and permanent injuries. O’Hara stayed on the medication for only a year, from 2006 to 2007, when he was diagnosed with bladder cancer.

Each of the plaintiffs are accusing Takeda of deliberately concealing information regarding the dangerous Actos side effects. This crucial information was hidden from the public and medical community, including the evidence indicating that bladder cancer could be induced by Actos, after only a year of use.

The plaintiffs argue that Takeda Pharmaceuticals should have been truthful regarding the Actos side effects, because the public was relying on the accuracy of the given information. They claim that they never would have taken Actos if they had known about the possibility of bladder cancer.

Overview of Actos Complications

Actos was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in July 1999 as a type-2 diabetes treatment drug, and was first released in the United States in April 2006, after Takeda made an official partnership with Eli & Lilly.

Actos is a part of the insulin-sensitizing diabetes drug family, called thiazolidinediones (TZDs). These drugs are specifically engineered to react to the presence of insulin, making it useless to any patient with type-1 diabetes. Due to its extreme mechanism, Actos is normally prescribed as an alternative treatment medication.

Doctors have become fairly hesitant about prescribing this drug because of its association with bladder cancer. A year Actos was approved, Takeda received more than 180 cancer reports, and has received the same number of these reports on average per year.

Many studies have indicated that patients who use Actos for at least a year have an increased risk of developing an aggressive form of bladder cancer. Takeda Pharmaceuticals reportedly never mentioned the possibility of bladder cancer, or provided any indication that it can cause the condition. Despite the FDA finding Actos linked to bladder cancer through statistics inference, there had not been any conclusive findings from the agency’s investigation.

The Actos Bladder Cancer Lawsuit is Stella Ramsey, et al. v. Takeda Pharmaceuticals USA, et al., Case No. 6:14-cv-00771-RFD-PJH, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. It has been added to In re: Actos Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2299, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.