Takeda Pharmaceuticals has recently offered to pay over $2 billion to settle over 8,000 Actos bladder cancer lawsuits.

The $2.2 billion settlement will resolve Actos lawsuits brought by patients claiming that the type-2 diabetes drug had caused them to develop bladder cancer.

According to legal experts, this Actos bladder cancer settlement is one of the largest payouts in the United States, involving patient lawsuits. This settlement offer could pay $275,000 per Acros lawsuit and it is the first settlement offer since the Actos litigation started three years ago. Even with its sheer amount, experts were not surprised by this development as Takeda had been facing numerous charges of product liability, compensatory, and punitive damage awards.

There are approximately 3,500 Actos lawsuits pending in federal court under U.S. District Judge Rebecca Doherty. Takeda Pharmaceuticals is also facing and additional 4,500 Actos bladder cancer lawsuits in the state courts of California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

Each of these Actos bladder cancer lawsuits claim that Actos made the probability of bladder cancer more likely, but Takeda Pharmaceuticals did not include that information on the drug’s safety label.

The Actos lawsuits also claim that Takeda had been aware of the risk of Actos bladder cancer since 2004, but had concealed this information from the public. This information was revealed seven years later when the Actos bladder cancer allegations had begun to sprout.

Takeda Pharmaceuticals is one of several pharmaceutical giants in Japan and has made more than $16 billion per year from Actos, before the release of its generic versions.

It is important to note that the Actos litigation is still ongoing, and that this settlement offer has not ben finalized.

Overview of Actos Bladder Cancer Lawsuits

Actos is a type-2 diabetes medication, which is designed to manage the production of insulin. In type-2 diabetes patients, they are unable to manufacture or produce adequate insulin amounts, which leads to diabetic attacks and a variety of other complications.

Over the years, patients have been prescribed this medication if other diabetes drugs fail to work, ultimately allowing the patients to live a normal life. However, patients have reported developing bladder cancer allegedly due to Actos treatment therapy, leading to the litigation movement Takeda now faces.

Takeda had begun facing Actos bladder cancer allegations in June 2011, when the FDA had issued a public warning regarding Actos and bladder cancer, saying that the drug significantly increased the risk of bladder cancer.

The FDA had released the warning, after reviewing data from a five-year analysis of an on-going Actos study, conducted by Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Before the FDA’s warning, several European countries had recalled Actos after suspecting that the drug increased the risk of bladder cancer, after reviewing numerous injury reports.

Other scientific studies have shown that patients who take Actos for more than 12 months, face a 40 percent greater risk of developing bladder cancer.

One of the most recent studies was published in a 2012 issue of the British Medical Journal, in which 115,727 patients had been prescribed Actos. The study ultimately found an 83 percent increased risk of bladder cancer. Even though the Actos warning label now includes an indication for bladder cancer, patients complain that the label does not adequately describe the risk.

At no point during the litigation has Takeda admitted to any wrongdoing, but it did respond to the allegations by conducting its own in-house study that is dedicated to the on-going clinical research of Actos safety concerns. Currently, Takeda is still confident in the effectiveness of Actos, and states that its benefits ultimately outweighs its risks.

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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