Issue: Increased risk of bladder cancer

Actos Diabetes Drug and Lawsuit Allegations

Lieff Cabraser represents 90 patients nationwide who took the prescription drug pioglitazone, sold under the brand name Actos, and who developed bladder cancer. The drug was also marketed and sold under the names ACTOplus met and ACTOplus met XR.

Physicians prescribe Actos to treat patients with Type 2 Diabetes. Japan-based Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, Ltd. is the manufacturer of Actos.

Manufacturers of prescription drugs have a duty to patients to produce safe products and to warn patients and their doctors of any adverse health effects. The individual lawsuits filed by the Actos patients who we represent that Takeda violated both of these duties and, as a result, that Takeda is legally responsible for the bladder cancer that they developed.

Actos Settlement Announced

On April 28, 2015, the U.S. District Court, overseeing the Actos injury cases in federal court nationwide issued an order recognizing that Takeda has agreed to settle all bladder cancer claims brought against the company from Actos users provided three conditions are met:

1. they took Actos at some time prior to December 1, 2011,
2. they were diagnosed with bladder cancer on or before April 28, 2015, and
3. they are represented by counsel, or retained counsel by May 1, 2015.

The settlement amount will be increased from $2.37 to $2.4 billion, because the percentage of claimants who decided to participate exceeded 97% before the opt-in deadline of Septemebr 11, 2015. Average payments of about $250,000 per person will be increased for more severe injuries, and reductions will occur where an individual had other likely causes of bladder cancer, such as smoking.

Actos Side Effects and Link to Bladder Cancer

In June 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a drug safety alert warning that the use of Actos for more than one year may be associated with an increased risk of bladder cancer. At the same time, health authorities in France suspended the use of Actos due to the risk of developing bladder cancer.

In April 2012, Health Canada, the government drug safety agency for Canada, issued a safety warning on Actos. Diabetes patients prescribed Actos for over a year had two times higher risk of bladder cancer than diabetes patients not taking Actos.