Actos Litigation Update

Since the FDA released an Actos safety warning linking the prolonged use of Actos to an increased risk of bladder cancer, a number of lawsuits have been filed against Actos’ manufacturer, Takeda Pharmaceuticals Company. As is common in mass tort lawsuits, more Actos lawsuits are expected to arise throughout the country.

On August 31, 2011, a couple from Nevada filed a motion requesting that all Actos bladder cancer lawsuits be consolidated and brought before a single judge. Cases consolidated in this manner are typical in mass torts and are called Multidistrict litigation (MDL). The purpose of an MDL is to avoid contradictory rulings by multiple judges and overlapping on the discovered facts and legal issues during the pretrial proceedings. Multidistrict litigation helps the court systems cope with the number of anticipated cases while increasing the efficiency of the legal system.

The US Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has scheduled a hearing session for December 1, 2011 to discuss whether Actos lawsuits will be consolidated into an MDL.