If you took the diabetes drug Actos and then developed bladder cancer, the two events may be connected. Research indicates that Actos may be linked to the development of bladder cancer, and patients may have a legal claim.

Actos is also known by its generic name pioglitazone and is used to treat type-2 diabetes by improving blood sugar control in combination with improved diet and exercise in a diabetes patient. Reportedly, it works by increasing the body’s sensitivity to insulin, because in a type-2 diabetic, their body’s sensitivity to insulin is diminished.

Drugs that help manage diabetes are important because without them, the health effects of diabetes can be severe and life-threatening. Actos bladder cancer risk, however, highlights the dangers of taking this drug. 

This drug may cause serious side effects that may cause more problems than the drug solves. In 2016, the FDA announced that patients who take Actos or other pioglitazone drugs like Actoplus Met, Octopus Met XR, Duetact, and Oseni may have an elevated risk of bladder cancer. 

The FDA warns that health care professionals should not prescribe the drug to patients who have active bladder cancer, and should carefully consider the risks of using pioglitazone in patients who have a history of bladder cancer.

The FDA first alerted the public to a possible bladder cancer risk in 2010 and 2011 based on some developing results from an ongoing epidemiological study. At that point, the FDA required the drug’s maker to include a warning of the risk on the drug’s label. 

In 2011, the FDA warned that people who had taken the drug for more than one year were susceptible to Actos bladder cancer problems.

According to the results reported in 2011, which were taken from the five-year mark of an ongoing study, “the five year results showed that although there was no overall increased risk of bladder cancer with pioglitazone use, an increased risk of bladder cancer was noted among patients with the longest exposure to pioglitazone, and in those exposed to the highest cumulative dose of pioglitazone.”

At the time, the FDA also noted that a French research study into the Actos bladder cancer risk also suggested a similar. France suspended the use of the drug, and Germany recommended that physicians not start new patients on the drug if possible.

So, for many years, there has been an indication of an Actos bladder cancer risk, yet the drug is still on the market. It is possible that the makers of the drug knew of the risk and still marketed it as a safe diabetes treatment.

In some cases, drug companies intentionally conceal the risks associated with a drug in order to continue to sell the drug and maximize their profits. This can put patients at risk for years.

Some patients who developed bladder cancer may not know that their condition could have been linked to their Actos use. Even if they thought that the cancer was due to genetic predisposition or another cause, it could possibly be connected to their Actos use.