Takeda failed to adequately warn of Actos cancer risks, U.S. jury finds

WILMINGTON, DELAWARE – A Maryland jury has ruled that Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. failed to properly warn a former U.S. Army translator and his doctor about the risks of the firm’s Actos diabetes drug and ordered it to pay more than $1.7 million (¥168 million) in damages, but a judge immediately threw out the verdict, court documents show. Jurors in state court in Baltimore deliberated more than six hours over two days before finding Asia’s largest drugmaker liable for the death of Diep An from cancer, said one of the family’s lawyers, Michael Miller. Since jurors also found that An contributed to his death by smoking for 30 years, Judge Brooke Murdock set the verdict aside based on Maryland law. “We consider the verdict to be a vindication of our claims that Takeda failed to properly disclose the risks of this drug,” Stuart Simms, another lawyer representing the An family, said Thursday in an interview. This is the second time a U.S. jury has found that Takeda hid Actos’ links to bladder cancer. The company, which faces more than 3,000 suits over the drug, is preparing for further trials in state courts in Las Vegas and Chicago and in a Louisiana federal court over the next four months. “We believe we acted responsibly and we are pleased with the judgment in favor of Takeda,” Ken Greisman, a U.S.-based spokesman for the drugmaker, said. Sales of Actos peaked at $4.5 billion (about ¥443 billion) in the year ended March 2011, accounting for 27 percent o...
Source: PharmaGossip - Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Source Type: blogs