Numerous Patients File Actos Lawsuits

The prescription drug Actos has hit the market in the late 1990s. Since then, doctors have advised their patients who have Type 2 Diabetes to take it. The drug has proven to help those with diabetes, but medical studies have shown that there is a connection to Actos and extremely negative side effects which include bladder cancer and heart failure. More studies have revealed evidence about Actos triggering life-altering damages to a person’s body. This has resulted in a number of patients filing an Actos lawsuit against Takeda Pharmaceuticals, the drug’s manufacturer.

To this day, there are hundreds of lawsuits pending in the United States federal court and other state courts as well. The number of lawsuits continues to soar because of the reactions the patients are getting from the drug. Those who suffer most are the people who have been taking Actos for several months, some for as long as two years. According to some reports, the quantity of lawsuits can climb as high as 10,000 or even more.

Takeda Pharmaceuticals is the company that creates Actos and is Japan’s largest prescription drug maker. Another pharmaceutical company, Eli Lilly & Co. marketed the drug for Takeda in the U.S. between the years 1999 and 2006. Since Eli Lilly & Co. is the distributor, an Actos lawsuit will be filed against both companies.

The lawsuits claim that both companies involved in the marketing if the prescription drug has not adequately warned the public about its dangers. Aside from heart failure and bladder cancer as mentioned above, the drug has been linked to heart attacks, liver damage, bone fractures, kidney damage, and liver damage.

The main reason patients persist in filing the lawsuits is not only to obtain compensation for their medical expenses related to injury, but to also warn other pharmaceutical companies about the consequences of marketing drugs that is hazardous to a person’s health.

The Food and Drug Administration warned the public in June 2011 about the risks of using Actos for over a year. CBS News has reported a few days before the FDA’s public notice that France and Germany pulled the drug out of the market after studies showed that a person taking it for a year or so has a 40 percent chance of acquiring bladder cancer.

Victims who have been taking Actos for several months and have experienced its negative side effects are encouraged to visit their doctor and speak with an experienced lawyer about their legal rights.