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Philadelphia $2M Actos Bladder Cancer Verdict Upheld

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Judge Shelly Robins, from Pennsylvania has denied the appeal of a $2 million verdict awarded in October to a plaintiff who blamed Takeda Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s drug Actos was a significant contributor to her developing bladder cancer.

In an order docketed on Friday, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Shelly Robins New rejected the company’s post-trial motions, in which they had argued that the jury’s verdict overstepped the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s authority.

The judge also added nearly $100,000 in delay damages, leading to a total judgment of $2.1 M.

There have been eight Actos Bladder Cancer trials to date across the United States. The majority of them have been held in various state courts and only one has been tried in the federal MDL out of thousands filed.
$9 Billion Dollar Federal Louisiana Verdict
The federal MDL case, a real bell ringer for Takeda, saw a Louisiana jury award over $9 billion – most of it in punitive damages – to the plaintiffs. The eye popping award was lowered in October to $38.1 million, and the jury was allowed to hear information that the judge sanctioned Takeda for destroying documents.
Most recently, in November 2014, a jury fined Takeda $155,000 for destroying documents that could have helped plaintiff Richard Myers.
The panel in that case found that Takeda officials intentionally destroyed the files. Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., was also ordered to pay more than $2 million to a plaintiff who claimed that the company’s Actos diabetes medicine caused her bladder cancer. Jurors in state court in Philadelphia found that the Japan-based Takeda failed to properly warn Frances Wisniewski’s doctors about Actos’s cancer risk.
Federal Court Issues New Orders
Judge Doherty is requiring the parties to provide the Court with particularized information about each case pending in the federal court system.Defendants have been required to provide a summary of information contained on each plaintiffs’ fact sheet, including information on their exposure to Actos, medical history, bladder cancer treatments and other risk factors for the disease.
Plaintiffs have been ordered to provide information about each case from the defendants’ fact sheet, outlining sales representative information received and any contact the drug companies had with the plaintiffs’ treating physicians.
The collection of this important data, suggests that there may be a global settlement in the works.

Takeda Knew in 2004 of Cancer Link

According to court documents, Takeda knew by 2004 that studies found links between Actos and cancer, and didn’t issue a warning until seven years later to protect billions of dollars in Actos sales.

Takeda Put “Profits Before People”

“Takeda chose to protect profits rather than patients,” Miller, the plaintiff’s attorney, said in closing arguments in Wisniewski’s trial. The company’s main goal was “to protect the product,” Miller added.

4,000 Actos Bladder Cancer Lawsuits in Federal Court

There are more than 4,000 product liability lawsuits filed against Takeda Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly, which allege that Actos diabetic medication caused patients to develop bladder cancer. These Actos suits have been consolidated before U.S. District Judge Rebecca Doherty in Lafayette, Louisiana, for pretrial discovery, in what is known as Multidistrict Litigation (MDL).

Actos: Blockbuster Drug Huge Profits

According to Bloomberg, sales of Actos maxed out in March 2011 at $4.5 billion for Takeda and accounted for 27 percent of the company’s revenue. Actos has raked in more than $16 billion in sales since its 1999 release.

Wisniewski and other users allege that Takeda researchers ignored or downplayed concerns about the Actos bladder cancer links before it went on sale in the U.S. and misled U.S. regulators about the diabetic medication risks.

Key Documents Destroyed

The jury found that the Takeda officials intentionally destroyed documents about the development, marketing and sales of Actos. The company ditched files of 46 former and current employees, including those of top executives in Japan and U.S. sales representatives. “We’ll never know what was in those documents,” Miller said.

Actos Verdicts

Of eight lawsuits to go to trial, five have resulted in awards to the plaintiffs. These have included $2 million in damages to Wisniewski, and $6.5 million to a man and his wife (Cooper v. Takeda Pharmaceuticals America Inc., et al, case number CGC-12-518535).

In 2013, juries in California and Maryland ordered Takeda to pay a combined $8.2 million in damages. But those verdicts later were tossed out by judges. The company also won defense verdicts recently in two cases in state court in Las Vegas.

The Pennsylvania case is Wisniewski v. Takeda Pharmaceuticals America Inc., 120702272, Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas. The consolidated Actos case in Louisiana is In Re Actos (Pioglitazone) Products Liability Litigation, 11-md-02299, U.S. District Court, Western District of Louisiana (Lafayette).

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