Actos Litigation Consolidated
Last month, the outstanding Actos lawsuits pending in federal courts around the country were consolidated before Judge Rebecca F. Doherty in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. That decision was made by the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML), a federal panel that decides how to handle the massive number of personal injury cases that result from the same defective product. The JPML determined there were common questions of law among the thousands of plaintiffs to merit the consolidation of pretrial proceedings. This saves plaintiffs money in that their lawyers can all share information gathered from Asian drug maker Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. and its co-defendant, Eli Lilly & Co.
A question yet to be answered is whether the drug maker and distributor withheld adequate warning from doctors and consumers, thereby failing to give users informed consent about the potential risk for bladder cancer.
When used for more than one year, Actos (pioglitazone) may increase the risk of bladder cancer. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a review of data found those patients who had taken the drug for the longest period of time had the highest risk of bladder cancer.
Actos is still sold in the U.S., but sales have been suspended in France and Germany after users developed bladder cancer after long-term use of the drug. Actos is used by patients to lower the blood sugar level in patients suffering from type 2 diabetes. During the first 10 months of 2010, about 2.3 million patients filled a prescription for a drug containing Actos. Doctors have been warned not to prescribe Actos to patients who have active bladder cancer.
If you have suffered adverse side effects from using Actos, the Jacksonville Actos attorneys with Farah & Farah can help you obtain compensation for your injuries and health problems. Please call (800) 533-3555 for a consultation with our law team.
By Eddie Farah
