Pittsburgh PA Actos Injury Claim Attorney

While several European governments have decided to make the conscious choice to pull Actos, the dangerous Type 2 diabetes drug, from their markets, the FDA remains watchful, yet has not decided to recall the drug despite the many health problems to which it is linked.

Bladder Cancer Linked to Actos

Actos, otherwise known by its scientific name pioglitazone, has been linked to several cases of bladder cancer, eye problems, and heart failure. Regardless of these dangers, federal drug regulators have failed to act and recall this dangerous drug. Although they have issued several drug safety announcements that highlight the potential dangers of Actos, there remains no outright plan to pull the drug from the market in the foreseeable future.

Actos became the world leader in diabetes drugs in 2007 after it was found that the drug’s rival, GlaxoSmithKline’s Avandia (otherwise known as rosiglitazone), was being linked to a high percentage of heart attacks. Both Actos and Avandia are part of the same family of drugs, called thiazolidinediones, or TZDs.

Actos Linked to Serious Life-Threatening Side Effects

Scientific research into Actos has found that since it came to be on the medical market in 1999, it has been linked to an 83% greater risk of bladder cancer for patients who have regularly taken the drug. In addition, researchers have found that Actos has been closely linked to other debilitating side effects like the weakening of bones and liver failure.

If you have taken the drug Actos and believe that you have been injured due to the serious side effects attributed to the drug, please contact the dangerous drug attorneys at Dallas W. Hartman, P.C. for a free consultation. Our product liability lawyers have been helping people who have been injured by dangerous drugs for over 30 years. We take a special interest in helping people who have been hurt due to the negligence of big drug companies like Takeda Pharmaceuticals USA, the maker of Actos.

Actos Information that May Interest You

Actos works by increasing the body’s sensitivity to insulin. Insulin is a natural hormone, usually produced by regularly healthy people, that helps control blood sugar. Before the Food and Drug Administration approved Actos in 1999, prefabrication research proved that bladder tumors developed from the drug became prevalent in animals on which Actos had been tested. Soon after, Takeda Pharmaceuticals launched its own decade-long study to investigate Actos’s link to bladder cancer. Regardless of what they found, Takeda continued manufacturing the drug and selling it to people who suffered from Type 2 diabetes.

Across Europe, in places like France and Germany, physicians have been ordered by the EMA (European Medicines Agency) to halt any more prescriptions of the drug. One particular study said that people who take Actos have a 22% higher risk of being diagnosed with bladder cancer than people who take other drugs prescribed for Type 2 diabetes.

FDA Studies Suggest Actos Must be Pulled from Medical Market as Soon as Possible

In response to the growing outcry that the FDA must do something about the continued distribution of Actos, the federal agency has claimed that they are going to continue to evaluate Takeda Pharmaceutical’s self-governed studies, as well as other European studies that have been monitoring upwards to 1.5 million people with Type 2 diabetes. According to one European study, Actos showed a “statistically significant increase in the risk of bladder cancer for patients exposed to [Actos] compared to patients exposed to other anti-diabetic drugs.”

While it seems that there is no doubt of the risks surrounding Actos, the FDA continues to stammer in their action. Although they have made Takeda update its Actos labels to warn patients of the side effects and have officially recommended that people with active bladder cancer refrain from taking the drug, the FDA has still failed to conclude that there is a “reasonable probability” that Actos will cause “serious adverse health consequences or death” as is their duty if they wish to recall a defective product.

Actos Lawsuits will Likely Number in the Thousands

Over the past several months, Actos has found itself in the height of talks over likely legal action to be taken against Takeda Pharmaceuticals, as well as Eli Lilly & Company, another corporation that helped Takeda market the product since its 1999 inception. Respected United States news sources estimate that Actos bladder cancer-related lawsuits could reach over 10,000 before all is said and done.

Call Dallas W. Hartman, P.C. Today for a Free Actos-Related Consultation

While Actos has not yet been recalled here in the United States, you still have rights as a consumer and as a victim. Our dangerous drug lawyers have been researching the effects of Actos for well over ten years. Our knowledge of defective drugs such as Actos, as well as our relationship with medical professionals, has allowed us to help thousands of people and their families after they were seriously injured by dangerous drugs.

Free Actos Lawsuit Information

To learn more about Actos lawsuits and your rights, call Dallas W. Hartman, P.C. for a free consultation at 800-777-4081, or contact us through our website by clicking here. If you have developed any serious health complications or have been diagnosed with bladder cancer and you believe that Actos may be the culprit, then contact us today to confidentially speak to a trusted dangerous drug attorney. You do have rights and at Dallas W. Hartman, P.C., we fight for those rights and work to the best of our ability to get you the compensation you deserve. Remember, the attorney you choose DOES make a difference. Call today.