Posted by Dana Domenick
Takeda Pharmaceutical Company is Asia’s largest pharmaceutical company and one of the most successful in the world. In the late 1990s, Takeda globally released an antidiabetic drug known as Actos. According to the FDA, the purpose of pioglitazone, the generic name for Actos, is to “improve control of blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus” (fda.gov).
Eli Lilly and Company is an American pharmaceutical company based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Takeda entered a partnership with Eli Lilly in which the American company would market Actos in the United States. In 2011, a New York resident, Terrance Allen and his wife filed a suit against Eli Lilly and Takeda claiming that the drug caused Terrance Allen to develop bladder cancer. The defendant had evidence to prove that the company failed to warn that Actos increases the risk of cancer. The trial took place in Lafayette, Louisiana. The jury sided with the plaintiff and awarded $9 billion in punitive damages. Lilly had to pay $3 billion while Takeda had to pay $6 billion. Both drug companies appealed the verdict and the damages were slashed to $36.8 million.
This suit was just one of the almost 9,000 pending claims toward Takeda made by Americans who had used the drug. All litigants argued that the company failed to warn them that use of the drug heightened their risk of cancer. In April 2014, the Japanese pharmaceutical company came to a settlement of $2.4 billion to cover the damages in all of the suits and costs against them in the United States. According to the New York Times, the damages given to each plaintiff will vary depending on individual factors including the amount of drug consumed and each individual’s physiological history (Andrew Pollack). According to Business Insider, Takeda expressed that the company is not concerned about the large settlement and they will continue to sell the drug.
Dana is a psychology major at Seton Hall University, Class of 2017.
Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/09/business/international/japanese-drug-maker-ordered-to-pay-6-billion-over-cancer-claims.html http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/PostmarketDrugSafetyInformationforPatientsandProviders/ucm109136.htm
http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-takeda-warns-of-loss-after–2.4-bn-diabetes-drug-settlements-2015-4
Posted by Shanice Cooper.
On February 15, 2016, in an article by Julie Hirschfield Davis, she details President Obama’s attempts in trying to persuade Congress how important trade is for small business worldwide. The article outlines the importance of small businesses being able to have the global accessibility for trade deals outside of the United States. In hopes of pushing Congress to approve these global trade deals, Obama has been generating various ways to build networking partners to increase business opportunity for more small corporations, such as, “including a series of programs to promote exports from rural areas and help more small and medium-size American businesses sell their goods and services overseas,” says Davis.
In addition to Obama’s local business programs, which allows small businesses to maximize their potential, he has been planning to meet with international firms. The purpose of the meetings will be to have people who have been successful due international trade deals testify to the importance of it: “American workers and businesses have benefited from previous trade deals and stand to gain substantially from pending agreements with Asia and Europe.” Due to the trade deals, much of our everyday living essentials are met. If it was not for Asian or European trade deals would tech remain the same? “Mr. Obama’s team is armed with statistics that it says show that the United States has essentially no choice but to strike trade deals to open more markets to American goods.” However, the only issue the President faces in his attempts to help American business owners are the Congress itself.
While Obama makes a compelling case to the law makers in how the restrictions in international trade is harming American owned businesses, Congress is slowly changing, understanding how strongly the President feels about it. “Getting these trade deals done will benefit our businesses and middle-class workers, not just in rural communities, but across the country,” said Bruce H. Andrews, the Deputy Secretary of Commerce. According to administration officials, they believe the new agreements will help American workers by opening markets to United States products and improving environmental and labor standards around the world. I think it is important for the American economy to be able to continue to negotiate internationally, because we may need it for future generations.
Shanice is a business administration major at Montclair State University, Class of 2016.