Validating the already proven claims of thousands of diabetics who have filed Actos lawsuits, a study to be published in a British Diabetic Association journal affirms the link between taking the type-2 diabetes prescription drug and being exposed to an increased risk of bladder cancer.
For several years in this meta-analysis of six Actos studies, Saudi Arabia-based researchers used electronic databases to track more than 200,000 patients who were taking pioglitazone, which is the generic name for the Takeda drug. The median time of follow-up with the patients was slightly more than three and a half years of taking the drug.
The incidence of bladder cancer showed, as a summary of the findings reads, “Pioglitazone use is associated with an increased risk of bladder cancer.” Indeed Actos patients experienced a “significantly higher” bladder cancer risk than did diabetics whose treatment did not include Actos.
Pharmaceutical injury attorneys nationwide have Actos lawsuit clients who could, alas, welcome the newest bladder cancer patients in this analysis to their long-suffering “club.”
An Actos side effect has done a lot of damage, and the manufacturer should have known about the drug’s increased bladder cancer risk and should have informed regulators, health care professionals and potential patients.
Who knows? If federal decision makers had known pre-market what they know now, which should be the case, Actos might not have been approved for the U.S. drug market so soon. Patients, therefore, would have been able to avert the heightened risk of bladder cancer.
Actos tablets were approved in 1999. It was not until 2011 that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, acting on its own “planned five-year interim analysis of an ongoing, 10-year epidemiological study,” approved “updated drug labels for the pioglitazone-containing medicines to include safety information that the use of pioglitazone for more than one year may be associated with an increased risk of bladder cancer.”
The FDA concluded, “The five-year results showed that although there was no overall increased risk of bladder cancer with pioglitazone use, an increased risk of bladder cancer was noted among patients with the longest exposure to pioglitazone, and in those exposed to the highest cumulative dose of pioglitazone.”
It was vital information that more diligent pre-market science might have uncovered, notwithstanding the extent to which the product’s FDA approval might have been delayed.
Although there have been dueling studies, the aforementioned analysis — one of the newest founts of epidemiological truth — nourishes the cause of the only people who count. They are the Actos victims whose avoidable bladder cancer is represented statistically but is suffered immeasurably.
They deserve compensation.
Anyone else who has been taking Actos and has been diagnosed with bladder cancer also may be entitled to compensation. Pharmaceutical injury attorneys who have the unique experience and skill in handling such oft-intricate litigation can be an asset in this regard.
Reich & Binstock has Actos attorneys who are distinguished by their proven track record, and they offer free consultations to patients whose bladder cancer may be related to taking Actos. Reich & Binstock may be reached by an electronic request for free legal advice through its Web site, www.reichandbinstock.com, or toll-free at 1-866-LAW-2400.
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