Takeda, Lilly Have $9 Billion Punitive Damage Reduced to $37 Million in Actos Lawsuit

In April, we wrote that Asia's biggest pharmaceutical company, Takeda, and their marketing partner, Eli Lilly, faced $9 billion in punitive damages stemming from potential cancer risks from their diabetes drug, Actos. The companies recently moved for a new trial and a reduction of the damages. While Louisiana U.S. District Judge Rebecca Doherty denied them a new trial, she greatly reduced the damages. Her opinion is essentially a 100-page lashing of Takeda and Eli Lilly, but she ended up finding that “the punitive damages awards made by the jury must bow to the weight of the Due Process Clause.” She moved the punitive damages to about $37 million, an $8.6 billion swing. View the original judgment here, and see the punitive damage award on page 3 (a lot of zeroes in $6,000,000,000.00 for Takeda plus $3,000,000,000.00 for Eli Lilly). View the motion for new trial here (page 99 for change in damages). Original case This revised punitive damages award stems from a 2011 lawsuit filed by Terrence Allen and his wife, Susan Allen, who alleged that the Actos diabetes medication caused Mr. Allen's bladder cancer. The plaintiffs alleged that Takeda and Lilly concealed their knowledge of the drug's cancer risks and failed to provide adequate warnings. Takeda has continuously maintained that the plaintiff's bladder cancer wasn't caused by Actos, and that the drugmaker provided proper warnings as they became known over the years. The jury awarded the Allens about $1.5 million in compen...
Source: Policy and Medicine - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs