Deadlines Set for Actos Lawsuit MDL Trials
By Andrea Gressman
At one time, Actos was the 10th best-selling medication in the United States. Those days are gone, replaced by new calendar dates – the Actos lawsuit dates, when the drug will go on trial for causing bladder cancer in patients who took it for more than a year.
Actos Drug History
Actos was originally approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1999. Designed as a treatment for Type II diabetes, it was initially hailed as a success and prescribed to patients around the world. Within a decade, it was one of America’s top-10 medications and a major financial winner for its manufacturer, Takeda Pharmaceuticals.
Actos’ popularity peaked in 2008, however. Just two years later, the FDA announced it was investigating the drug for a potential connection with soaring bladder cancer rates among diabetics.
Further research revealed that diabetics who had taken Actos for more than 12 months were at least 40% more likely to develop bladder cancer. These findings were backed by research in France and Canada. In 2011, when data from their internal studies started to come in, French authorities instituted an Actos recall in France based on conclusive evidence that it was causing cancer in patients. An Actos recall followed in Germany.
Actos Lawsuit MDL Schedule
The Actos lawsuit MDL is being presided over by Honorable Judge Rebecca F. Doherty. On July 13, 2012, Judge Doherty released a schedule for the initial bellwether cases to be tried by the court.
The first hearings in the Actos lawsuit MDL will be held November 3, 2014. Recognizing that there are hundreds of potential Actos bladder cancer lawsuits to be examined in order to form a pool of just 20 to serve as the bellwether cases, the November 2014 trial date was selected to provide adequate pre-trial preparation time for Plaintiffs and defending counsel.
Prior to the initial hearing in November 2014, there is an earlier deadline for selecting the cases that will be reviewed. By June 3, 2013, counsel for both the Plaintiffs and Defendants need to reach an agreement about which 20 cases – out of the potential hundreds of Actos bladder cancer lawsuits – will form the pool that will be core of the first trial. All discovery actions are to be completed by the pre-trial conference on October 16, 2013.
However, these 20 cases do not necessarily represent all the Actos bladder cancer lawsuits that will be covered in the bellwether proceedings. Following the November 2014 hearings, a second Actos MDL hearing will be held January 12, 2015.
Updated August 27th, 2012
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