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