Actos (pioglitazone), a prescription pill intended to treat Type 2 Diabetes (as is Avandia), has been linked to incidences of bladder cancer and increased risk of bladder cancer. Actos has generally been prescribed to improve glucose control and increase insulin sensitivity in adults with Type 2 Diabetes. Actos can be prescribed either alone, or as a supplement to other medications such as insulin or metformin.
Long-term use of Actos has been linked to numerous health complications, including but not limited to heart failure, macular edema, lactic acidosis, bone fractures, and most notably, bladder cancer. Symptoms of bladder cancer include bloody urine, pain while urinating, increased urge to urinate, fatigue, abnormal weight loss, and unusual back pain. Many Actos users have experienced these symptoms, as well as symptoms associated with heart disease.
Bladder cancer, one of the more common types of cancer diagnosed in the United States, was detected in over 74,000 people in 2012; another 15,000 people died of bladder cancer the same year. Fortunately, most bladder cancer patients are diagnosed in the early stages of the disease, and the overall five-year survival rate is 80%.
Thousands of former Actos users have filed lawsuits against Takeda Pharmaceuticals, the drug’s creator, after experiencing the above-listed symptoms or being diagnosed with heart complications or bladder cancer. Litigants claim that Takeda Pharmaceuticals did not adequately provide a warning to the public, or to the FDA, about the potential risks involved with taking Actos.
The FDA has found, after conducting a 10 year study conducted by the Kaiser Foundation, that people who have been taking Actos for over one year are 40% more likely to be diagnosed with bladder cancer; similarly, a 2011 French study with a sample size of 1.5 million patients found that diabetics taking Actos were found to be 22% more likely to develop bladder cancer than diabetics not taking the drug. France, Germany, and India have all banned the prescription of Actos due to its associated risks. One of the most recent studies on the drug, published in the May 2012 issue of the British Medical Journal, claims that Actos increases the risk of bladder cancer in patients by 83%. In 2011, Takeda Pharmaceuticals added a warning label on all bottles of Actos, but by this point, many patients had already been taking Actos for years.
As of September, 2013, two juries have found Takeda Pharmaceuticals at fault for not warning the public or the FDA about the dangers of taking Actos. Over 3,000 lawsuits are still in process, 1,200 of which have been combined into a single multi-district litigation case awaiting trial at a Louisiana federal court.Settlement Funding on Actos Bladder Cancer Lawsuits As soon as settlement amounts are finalized, RD Legal is positioned to provide post-settlement advances on Actos bladder cancer lawsuits. For more information about legal funding solutions, please contact RD Legal at 800-565-5177. To begin the application process, simply fill out the quick form located on this page.
