URGENT: ACTOS SETTLEMENT ANNOUNCED WITH DEADLINE TO PARTICIPATE THIS FRIDAY

Takeda announced today that it agreed to pay $2.37 billion to resolve lawsuits accusing the company of hiding its Actos diabetes medicine’s cancer risks.

The agreement states that the deal will go through if 95% of those with claims against Asia’s largest drug maker agree to accept the settlement. If the settlement’s participation rate climbs to 97%, Takeda will add $300 million to the settlement, bringing it to a total of $2.4 billion.

It is estimated that the average settlement per claim is $296,000. The payment may be reduced depending on a patient’s age, smoking history and exposure to toxins, which is similar to other mass tort settlements including the DePuy ASR agreement.

Last year a jury found against Takeda and Eli Lilly & Co. in the amount of $9 billion in damages to a shopkeeper who blamed Actos for causing his bladder cancer. That award was later reduced to $36.8 million by a judge.

If you have not filed a lawsuit against Actos and you qualify under the terms of the settlement agreement, you can still participate, but time is running out. If you have retained an attorney by this Friday, May 1, 2015, you can still participate in the proposed settlement. Your attorney will have to file a declaration before July 13, 2015, stating they were retained prior to May 1, 2015.

If you or a loved one developed bladder cancer as a result of the prescription drug Actos, contact me immediately to protect your rights. Contact Booth Samuels at 1-866-515-8880 or by email at booths@pittmandutton.com for a free consultation. 

Judge Finds Actos Manufacturer Intentionally Destroyed Documents

U.S. District Judge Rebecca Doherty said Friday that Takeda Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., intentionally destroyed evidence that would have helped the Plaintiffs in a $9 billion bellwether lawsuit over claims the company hid the cancer risks of the diabetes drug Actos to keep sales high.

The ruling follows Plaintiffs Terrence and Susan Allen’s April victory in the first federal jury decision in multidistrict litigation (MDL) against Asia’s largest drug company and its American partner, Eli Lilly & Co. For more information on the trial, see my previous blog posts.

Judge Doherty, who had previously addressed Takeda’s conduct, said Takeda breached its obligation to preserve certain information related to the Plaintiffs’ suit. She stated that the intentionally destroyed documents were both relevant to the case, and their absence was prejudicial to the Plaintiffs.

The decision only impacts Takeda, and not Ely Lilly. She also deferred making any findings about attorney misconduct until a later date. Judge Doherty also denied the Plaintiffs Steering Committee request to issue a default judgment against Takeda.

She did however order Takeda to continue to attempt to reconstruct all the deleted files. Until that process is done, the Judge stated she will defer making a determination of attorneys’ fees. But she did allow the PSC to file a request to shift to Takeda all costs, including attorneys’ fees, related to third-party discovery that would not have been conducted except for Takeda’s bad-faith conduct.

According to the original complaint, the Plaintiffs alleged that even before Takeda applied for approval from the FDA, it knew from the results of animal testing that Actos could cause bladder cancer. Later, in the early 2000s, clinical trials in humans had shown it would induce the cancer, the suit said.

Thousands of lawsuits were filed over the drug’s allegedly carcinogenic side effects, prompting more than 6,000 of them to be transferred to the MDL in the Western District of Louisiana.

Pittman, Dutton & Hellums, P.C. is currently investigating Actos claims. If you or a loved one were prescribed Actos and thereafter were diagnosed with cancer, please contact Booth Samuels toll free at 1-866-515-8880 or by email at booths@pittmandutton.com.

Jury Renders Huge Verdict In Actos MDL Bellwether Trial

After a 12 week trial in the first bellwether case in the Actos MDL, the jury has rendered a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs, Mr. and Mrs. Allen, as follows:

 - $1,475,000 in compensatory damages

 - $6 Billion in punitive damages against Takeda

 - $3 Billion in punitive damages against Eli Lilly

The case was before the U.S. District Court, Western District of Louisiana (in Lafayette). The style of the case is In Re: Actos Products Liability Litigation Case No. 6:11-mdl-2299.

It is reported that the jury deliberated for an hour and 10 minutes to deliver its verdict finding liability on all 14 questions, and another 45 minutes to come out with the multibillion dollar punitive damages.

Takeda Pharmaceutical, Japan’s largest drugmaker, said it would contest the $6 billion punitive damages imposed. Eli Lilly will most likely appeal as well. The plaintiffs alleged the drugmaker had concealed cancer risks associated with its Actos diabetes drug. Judge Rebecca F. Doherty wanted post-verdict motions filed quickly but has set no schedule.

Punitive damages are meant to discourage other similar companies from bad conduct. Compensatory damages are meant to pay back victims for their actual losses, or “hard damages”.

Judgments were entered in Takeda’s favor in three previous Actos trials. This was the first trial in the MDL. Last May, a judge nullified a separate jury verdict of $6.5 million against Takeda after a ruling that the plaintiffs failed to offer reliable evidence that Actos actually caused cancer. See my previous blog post regarding that story.

Germany and France have suspended use of the drug in 2011 due to concerns over linkage of the drug to cancer.

Pittman, Dutton & Hellums, P.C. is currently investigating Actos cases. Contact Booth Samuels at 1-866-515-8880 or by email at booths@pittmandutton.com for a free case evaluation. 

$6.5 Million Verdict Against Actos Maker Thrown Out

Actos users who were harmed by the drug suffered a major setback after Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., persuaded a judge to throw out a $6.5 million jury verdict against it. The mega-corporation’s lawyers argued that the Plaintiff did not produce sufficient evidence to show his cancer was caused by the medication. The Los Angeles case is Cooper v. Takeda Pharmaceuticals America Inc., CGC-12-518535, California Superior Court (Los Angeles).

The trial lasted nearly two months and the jury deliberated for almost five days.

Judge Kenneth Freeman ruled that the Plaintiff’s, Jack Cooper, attorneys were not able to properly link his bladder cancer to his Actos use and jurors should not have had a chance to return their verdict against Asia’s largest drugmaker. It was the first of more than 3,000 lawsuits over the medication to go to trial.

 

The Plaintiff in this case took the drug for more than four years before being diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2011. Takeda’s lawyers argued during the almost two-month trial that Cooper was more likely to develop bladder cancer because he was an elderly male former smoker who suffered from diabetes. That placed him in high-risk categories for the disease regardless of his Actos use, the company’s attorneys argued to jurors.

However, Judge Freeman’s ruling hinged on an expert doctor who concluded Cooper’s Actos use caused his bladder cancer turned out to be “inherently unreliable” and that justified throwing the case out. Freeman issued a 27-page ruling.

It is believed that Cooper’s lawyers will appeal Freeman’s post-verdict ruling throwing out the case.

It is estimated that Actos sales peaked in the year ended March 2011 at $4.5 billion, or 27 percent of Takeda’s revenue at the time.

More than 1,200 suits have been consolidated into an MDL in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. The first federal case is set for trial in January and Mark Lanier, who won a $253 million verdict against Merck in 2005 in the first trial over the company’s withdrawn Vioxx painkiller, is slated to try the case for plaintiff Ida St. John.

Former Actos users contend in court filings Takeda researchers ignored or downplayed concerns about the drug’s cancer-causing potential before it went on sale in the U.S. in 1999, and misled U.S. regulators about the medicine’s risks.

 

Actos MDL Hearing Set For March 22

The opening hearing in the multidistrict litigation, or “MDL”, against the manufacturer of Actos will be held about eight months after the first suit was filed. Judge Rebecca Doherty in the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Louisiana, who has been assigned to preside over the combined Federal lawsuits, issued an order on February 13 that scheduled a status conference be held March 22. In her order, Judge Doherty stated she planned to appoint lead attorneys to oversee the federal cases, which were consolidated due to the similarity of their claims.

The conference will be the first court action in the litigation against the Takeda Pharmaceuticals American Inc., the U.S. arm of the Japanese pharmaceutical company that created and manufactures Actos.. The drug is marketed as a treatment for diabetes patients, but several users say they developed bladder cancer as a result of taking it. Takeda faces thousands of already filed and potential lawsuits from patients who accuse the company of selling the drug despite the cancer risk. The company is also accused of covering up information about the connection between Actos and bladder cancer, and of failing to warn doctors and patients.

Thousands more patients have filed lawsuits at the state level in California and Illinois. Similarly on the state level, Plaintiffs who have filed an Actos bladder cancer lawsuit in California may see their cases transferred to the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Lawsuits alleging Actos side effects were consolidated there on January 4, 2012. In a recent order, presiding Judge Lee Smalley Edmon ruled that Judge Jane L. Johnson will oversee the coordinated proceedings. On both the Federal and State level, coordination usually serves to ensure that each lawsuit proceeds in an efficient manner, while reducing the possibility of inconsistent rulings and duplicate discovery and testimony.

After the June 2011 FDA warning about the risk of Actos cancer, along with the French Actos recall that occurred during the same time period, more people have become aware of the potential link between the disease and the diabetes drug. The first lawsuit against Takeda related to a case of bladder cancer allegedly due to Actos was filed in July 2011.

Some researchers have found that taking the drug for more than a year increases a patient's risk of developing bladder cancer, a serious and potentially fatal disease that can require invasive surgery to treat.

As a patient who was prescribed Actos, either for diabetes glucose management or any other reason, you need to be aware of the increased risk of Actos bladder cancer that taking Actos brings. If you have Actos bladder cancer, or believe that you may have Actos bladder cancer, please contact me at booths@pittmandutton.com or call toll free 1-866-515-8880.

Actos Lawsuits Consolidated Into MDL

Late last year on December 29, 2011, the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation issued a Transfer Order consolidating numerous lawsuits against Takeda Pharmaceuticals America, Inc. related to the use of Actos.  These cases were consolidated into MDL No. 2299 and will be centralized in the Western District of Louisiana and will now be assigned to Judge Rebecca Doherty. 

The cases were consolidated based on the fact that the cases all revolve around the same allegations.  These allegations include that individuals using Actos for treatment of type 2 diabetes are at an increased risk of developing bladder cancer.  It is also alleged that the Defendant, Takeda, concealed their knowledge of this risk and therefore failed to provide adequate warnings to consumers.

Actos is the tenth best-selling medication in the United States and has been found to increase the risk of developing bladder cancer in patients who have taken Actos for more than one year. 

Although an MDL, or Multi-District Litigation, is often confused with class action lawsuits, the cases do remain individual injury lawsuits, even though they are transferred to the same judge for pretrial litigation. If a settlement, agreement or other resolution for the litigation is not reached in the MDL, then the cases would be remanded back to the court where they were originally filed for trial.

As a patient who was prescribed Actos, either for diabetes glucose management or any other reason, you need to be aware of the increased risk of Actos bladder cancer that taking Actos brings. If you have Actos bladder cancer, or believe that you may have Actos bladder cancer, please contact me at booths@pittmandutton.com or call toll free 1-866-515-8880.

ACTOS LAWSUIT UPDATE

Actos, a prescription drug designed to help diabetes patients manage their blood sugar levels, is one of the best selling drugs in the United States, bringing in over $2.4 billion dollars in sales. Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide have taken Actos, but many may be unaware of the increased danger of bladder cancer that long-term usages of Actos can bring.

In early testing, Actos was found to provide only a small increase in the chance of contracting Actos bladder cancer while taking the drug. However, in September 2010, the FDA announced that Takeda Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of Actos, provided interim data spanning five years that suggests there may be a risk of bladder cancer the longer the medication is used. After 24 months, the rate of exposure and the increased Actos cancer risk reached statistical significance. In June 2011, an Actos recall was issued in France after health authorities ordered doctors to stop prescribing the drug due to the possible risk of bladder cancer.

Germany has also pulled the drug completely off of the market. The sale of Actos is still allowed in the United States at this time, but the FDA has issued a warning about the product and the risk of bladder cancer. The FDA has also ordered the manufacturer to change the wording on the drug’s warning labels. Despite the enhanced warning labels on the drug, this does not mean that patients who have contracted Actos bladder cancer after taking Actos long-term to treat their diabetes cannot file an Actos lawsuit.

Because of these new findings, dozens of Actos lawsuits have been filed by people seeking redress for their injuries. A class action lawsuit has recently been filed in Louisiana against Takeda pharmaceuticals claiming that information about the danger of Actos bladder cancer was suppressed or hidden from the general public. The Actos lawsuit also alleges that the manufacturer had significant financial incentives to try and prevent the spread of the information.  In general, anyone who was prescribed the drug is a potential class member of the Actos lawsuit, even if they did not contract Actos bladder cancer while taking the drug.

A motion was filed by plaintiffs’ lawyers in August to centralize the federal litigation over bladder cancer from Actos into an “MDL”. An “MDL”, or Multi-District Litigation, is a powerful tool useful in mass torts litigation and I have blogged extensively about the benefits of the procedure. Pittman, Dutton & Hellums has represented many injured plaintiffs in a number of MDL’s including In re: Total Body Formula, In Re: Chinese-manufactured Drywall and In re: DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc. ASR Hip Implant.

Although Takeda Pharmaceuticals has indicated they agree the lawsuits should be consolidated for discovery and pretrial proceedings, they disagree about where the cases should be centralized. The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation heard oral arguments for a motion for centralization of the Actos lawsuits on December 1, at their hearing session at the Tomochichi United States Courthouse in Savannah, Georgia. All lawsuits allege that defendants, including Takeda Pharmaceuticals, were negligent and failed to warn of the risks associated with the medication. The motion for the MDL was filed on August 31 by plaintiffs Glen and Nina Weant. Our firm filed a brief advocating for the MDL to be located in Birmingham, Alabama.

As a patient who was prescribed Actos, either for diabetes glucose management or any other reason, you need to be aware of the increased risk of Actos bladder cancer that taking Actos brings. If you have Actos bladder cancer, or believe that you may have Actos bladder cancer, please contact me at booths@pittmandutton.com or call toll free 1-866-515-8880.

FDA Actos Warnings

The drug Actos (pioglitazone hydrochloride) is used in the treatment of diabetes. Actos is used to control blood sugar levels in patients with Type 2 diabetes, which keeps the body from producing enough insulin to properly use the sugar in the bloodstream.  Type 2 diabetes can also cause the patient to become resistant to insulin.  Actos remedies this problem by making cells more sensitive to insulin, thereby making it easier for sugar to pass through the body.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mandated a “Black Box” warning be added to Actos packaging in 2007.  A second FDA warning in June 2011 contained specific details of the risk of bladder cancer associated with Actos.

A recent study of 193,099 patients over a five-year period found that people who took Actos for at least 12 months or longer were 40 percent more likely to develop bladder cancer. A subsequent FDA Adverse Event report found that Actos was involved in one-fifth of all reported diagnoses of bladder cancer in diabetes drug users. At this time, however, Actos is still on the market and being prescribed by physicians. 

If you represent a client who has been diagnosed with bladder cancer after using Actos, we would welcome the opportunity to work with you on these cases.  Please contact Booth Samuels at booths@pittmandutton.com or at 1-866-515-8880.