Couple Files Actos Lawsuit When Husband Gets Bladder Cancer

Couple Files Actos Lawsuit When Husband Gets Bladder Cancer

By Jessica Tyner

On Sept. 19, 2013, Donald and Carmen Laconto filed an Actos lawsuit after Donald was diagnosed with deadly bladder cancer. He had taken Actos to treat type-2 diabetes, unaware that the drug was associated with bladder cancer. The couple have banded together for this Actos lawsuit, and are joining scores of other victims who are in the same situation.

According to the Actos lawsuit, Donald “was injured as a result of his use of Actos, and therefore seeks damages for pain and suffering, ascertainable economic losses, attorneys’ fees, reimbursement of cost of obtaining Actos, reimbursement for all past, present, and future health and medical care costs related to Actos. Carmen Laconto was deprived of the care, consideration, compassion, consortium and concern of Plaintiff Donald Laconto and has suffered injuries and damages thereby.”

The Nevada couple is suing Takeda Pharmaceuticals, claiming that the company knew about the Actos dangers but chose not to warn physicians, consumers or the public in general.

According to the Lacontos’ Actos lawsuit, “As a result of the defective nature of Actos, persons who were prescribed and ingested this product, including Plaintiff, have suffered and may continue to suffer from bladder cancer.  Defendants concealed and continue to conceal their knowledge of Actos’ unreasonably dangerous risks from Plaintiff, his physicians, other consumers, and the medical community. Specifically, Defendants failed to adequately inform consumers and the prescribing medical community about the risk of bladder cancer associated with more than twelve (12) months of Actos ingestion.”

According to the Actos lawsuit, Donald never would have risked his life to treat type-2 diabetes, especially when there are so many other effective drugs on the market.

Actos Side Effects Warning Concealed Cancer Risk

Actos has been available since 1999, but according to the Lacontos, there still isn’t proper warning messages about the drug.

“Defendants concealed and continue to conceal their knowledge that Actos can cause bladder cancer from Plaintiff, other consumers, and the medical community. Specifically, Defendants have yet to adequately inform consumers and the prescribing medical community about the risks of bladder cancer with use of Actos for more than twelve (12) months,” the Actos lawsuit states. “As a result of Defendants’ actions and inactions, Plaintiff was injured due to his ingestion of Actos, which caused and will continue to cause Plaintiff various injuries and damages.”

There was plenty of evidence that Actos caused cancer, says the Lacontos. “Prior to Actos being approved by the FDA (U.S. Food & Drug Administration), a two-year carcinogenicity study was conducted on male and female rats. Drug-induced tumors were observed in male rats receiving doses of Actos that produced blood drug levels equivalent to those resulting from a clinical dose.”

The Actos lawsuit continues: “Despite this finding by the FDA, Robert Spanheimer, Vice President of Medical and Scientific Affairs for Takeda, claimed to Reuters that the Kaiser Permanente study has not shown a risk to patients of bladder cancer or other cancers from Actos.”

Takeda recalled Actos in France in 2011, but not in the United States.

“As a result of Defendants’ actions, Plaintiff and his prescribing physicians were unaware, and could not have reasonably known or have learned through reasonable diligence, that Plaintiff had been exposed to the risks identified in this Complaint, and that those risks were the direct and proximate result of Defendants’ acts, omissions, and misrepresentations. Plaintiff was prescribed and began taking Actos in July 2007 until June 2012 upon direction of his physicians. Plaintiff was diagnosed with bladder cancer in or around July 2012.”

Dealing with Actos Side Effects

According to the Actos lawsuit, Donald “suffered severe mental and physical pain and suffering and has and will sustain permanent injuries and emotional distress, along with economic loss due to medical expenses and living related expenses due to his new lifestyle.” He’s suing Takeda for negligence, failure to warn, design defect, breach of warranty, negligence per se, negligent misrepresentation, loss of consortium and punitive damages.

Takeda’s “conduct, as described above, was extreme, outrageous, oppressive, fraudulent, and/or malicious. Defendants risked the lives of consumers and users of their products, including Plaintiff, with knowledge of the safety and efficacy problems and suppressed this knowledge from the general public. Defendants made conscious decisions not to redesign, re-label, warn or inform the unsuspecting consuming public.”

The Actos lawsuit is Donald Laconto and Carmen Laconto v. Takeda Pharmaceuticals, et al., MDL No. 6:11-md-2299, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.

Were You Prescribed Actos?

Were you prescribed Actos, and subsequently received a bladder cancer diagnosis? If this happened to you or your spouse, you may have an Actos legal claim. Discover more about your rights at the Actos Bladder Cancer Class Action Lawsuit Investigation today. After you submit your information, an attorney will contact you if you have a case for a free Actos claim review.