Deadly diabetes drug still killing after all these years

The verdict is in.

And it’s guilty.

This isn’t the first time I’ve warned you about the dangers of taking Actos, the big-selling type 2 diabetes drug — the most serious being that it causes cancer.

And yet, despite mounting evidence, the two drug companies pitching Actos tried to keep that risk hidden.

But the very real cancer risk was enough to get Actos banned in India, Germany and France. Not surprisingly, the FDA has allowed it to keep selling — and killing — here in the U.S., keeping the conversation about the risks as quiet as possible.

But now a jury in Louisiana has spoken — loudly — by awarding an amount so large that everyone is shocked.

Terrence Allen has type 2 diabetes. His doctor put him on Actos in 2004. Seven years later, he was diagnosed with bladder cancer as well.

Allen said that if he and his doctor had known about the cancer risk, he wouldn’t have taken the drug.

And he also said that Takeda Pharmaceutical and Eli Lilly knew full well about the link between Actos and bladder cancer. And they knew back in 2000, but concealed that fact from users — and doctors — to sell more of the drug.

Allen’s lawsuit against the drug manufacturers is far from the only one. Over 3,000 others who took Actos and got cancer have sued as well. But Allen’s is the first case to reach a jury verdict. And when the amount of the award was announced, there was “stunned silence” in the courtroom.

Allen was awarded 9…billion…dollars. No, that’s not a typo — 9 billion.

And it came in the form of “punitive damages,” an action meant to “punish” the two drug companies for deceiving users.

And boy, do they ever deserve to be punished.

Back in 2012 a whistleblower, a doctor who worked at Takeda, came forward and said that the company downplayed and even failed to report serious side effects of the drug.

And we’re talking about more than bladder cancer.

We’re talking about heart failure, stroke, suicidal thoughts, dangerous fluid retention and bone fractures — all from this one drug, and all kept hushed up.

When the FDA learned about the big risk of bladder cancer, it added a lukewarm warning to the “precautions” part of the label in 2011. Come on, how often do you read that book-length drug insert? Especially when you’ve been taking a drug for a while.

And a year after adding that warning, it still approved a generic version of Actos! Now there’s even more of this risky drug lurking on the market. It’s even in a pill combined with metformin.

How did they justify that crazy move? Wait till you hear this!

The FDA said the new generics will give patients “affordable treatment options.”

Are you kidding me? Heart failure, bone fractures, bladder cancer…those are “affordable” options?

And now thousands have developed cancers and heart disease because of those secrets.

If you are taking this dangerous drug, or any of the generics containing “pioglitazone” (its generic name), please ask your doctor to prescribe something else or to help you move off of drugs altogether. After all, we have no idea how much other dangerous information is being hidden from us.

Sources:

“Takeda, Lilly ordered to pay $9 billion in diabetes-drug case” Hiroyuki Kachi, April 8, 2014, Wall Street Journal, wsj.com