Actos Bladder Cancer Trial Set to Begin Feb 2013 in California State Court

Trial is scheduled to begin early next year in California state court for a lawsuit filed by a man who alleges that he developed bladder cancer from side effects of Actos.

The complaint was brought by Jack Cooper in the Superior Court of California for Los Angeles County. According to a press release issued by one of the law firms involved in the case, trial is set to begin on February 19, 2013, and it may be the first Actos cases in the country to reach a jury.

Takeda Pharmaceuticals, the makers of the popular diabetes drug, faces more than 1,000 Actos lawsuits filed in state and federal courts throughout the United States, and many expect that there may be more than 10,000 complaints ultimately filed by individuals who allege the drug maker failed to adequately warn about the risk of developing bladder cancer while taking Actos.

Actos (pioglitazone) was approved by the FDA for treatment of type 2 diabetes in July 1999.  It is a once-daily pill that increases the body’s sensitivity to insulin.  Related medications that also contain the same active pharmaceutical ingredient include ActoPlus Met and Duetact.

In June 2011, the FDA issued a drug safety communication to indicate that new information would be added to the warning label for Actos, which indicates that use of the medication for more than one year may increase the risk of developing bladder cancer.

All of the complaints filed in state and federal courts involve similar allegations that Takeda Pharmaceuticals failed to provide adequate warnings for consumers or the medical community about the risk of cancer associated with long-term Actos use.

California Actos Case May Reach Jury Two Year Before First Federal Trial

All federal Actos bladder cancer lawsuits are currently consolidated for pretrial proceedings as part of an MDL, or multidistrict litigation, which is centralized before U.S. District Judge Rebecca Doherty in the Western District of Louisiana.

The California state court lawsuit filed by Cooper may reach a jury nearly two years before the first trial dates in the federal court system, which are not scheduled to begin until November 2014.

According to a pretrial order issued in the Actos MDL in July, a small group of cases are currently being prepared for early trial dates, known as bellwether cases, with the first federal trial date set for November 3, 2014 and a second trial set to begin January 12, 2015.

The California trial date is likely to be closely watched by lawyers throughout the United States, to gauge how juries may respond to evidence that may be repeated in hundreds of cases throughout the United States.

It is a common practice in complex pharmaceutical litigation, where a large number of lawsuits have been filed involving similar allegations, for a small group of cases to be prepared for early trial dates. Known as “bellwether” cases, the preparation for these early trial dates and the outcomes may shape eventual Actos settlement agreements in the litigation.