If you have type-2 diabetes, the chances are good your doctor  prescribed Actos as one of the medications to treat it. Actos decreases the insulin resistance in the body and makes it more receptive to insulin, thereby regulating blood sugar more effectively.

It has the usual side effects, such as tiredness and headache, but studies show that Actos carries a definitive link to users developing congestive heart failure. This dangerous Actos side effect caused some people to file Actos lawsuits against Takeda Pharmaceuticals, which makes and markets the type-2 diabetes drug.

When the oral type-2 diabetes drug Actos was released in 1999, it was touted as a safer way to lower blood sugar and get type-2 diabetes under control. But more than a decade later, numerous people have suffered the serious Actos side effect of congestive heart failure.

Actos and Heart Failure

There is increasing evidence that the risk of taking Actos and having a heart attack is much greater than previously thought. Moreover, the maker of Actos, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, has been accused of concealing, or downplaying, the number and the severity of heart problems linked to Actos.

Actos is a member of the controversial thiazolidinedione (TZD) drug family, which has been known to cause heart problems. When Takeda ran clinical trials on the drug before its release, results showed a link to heart failure.

In one clinical trial, 5,238 patients were treated with Actos or a placebo. According to the trial, a larger percentage of Actos patients experienced a “serious heart failure event” than those taking the placebo. The incidence of death from heart failure was also significantly higher in the Actos patients. Despite early clinical study findings that linked the drug’s use to the development of heart problems and bladder cancer, Actos was released to the market.

In the United States, it took several years before drug regulators took notice of Actos-related heart problems. A 2007 study that ran in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) noted that “serious heart failure is increased by pioglitazone, although without an associated increase in mortality.”

Another JAMA-published study that compared rosiglitazone and pioglitazone stated, “Both thiazolidinediones have been shown to increase the risk of heart failure compared with treatment with placebo or other anti-diabetes medications.”

FDA Warning

Heart failure happens when the heart can’t supply an adequate blood flow to meet the body’s needs. When this occurs, the body often becomes congested with fluids. Typically, heart failure presents itself when either side of the heart, or both sides, fail. When this happens, breathing becomes labored, edema (swelling) sets in and organs can start failing.

In 2007, the FDA required Actos to carry a black-box warning regarding heart failure, stating that TZDs can cause or exacerbate heart failure in patients.

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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