Diabetes drug class action launches
Suit alleges manufacturer should have disclosed increased bladder cancer risk
CBC News
Posted: Dec 22, 2011 11:44 AM ET
Last Updated: Dec 22, 2011 11:44 AM ET
The suit has been filed with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
(Peter Jones/Reuters)
Related
Related Links
External Links
(Note:CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external links.)
A class action has been launched on behalf of people who took the diabetes drug Actos against the manufacturers of the medication.
The class action alleges that Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, the manufacturer and distributor of Actos (pioglitazone hydrochloride) and Eli Lilly, who used to sell and distribute the drug, failed to disclose that taking it for longer than one year led to an increased risk of bladder cancer.
The suit has been filed with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
The lead plaintiff in the class action is a now-deceased Toronto woman who was prescribed Actos in 2002. She died in April after battling bladder cancer for over two years.
"Given the other widely available alternatives to control Type 2 diabetes, my mother never would have taken Actos had she known that it would increase her risks of developing bladder cancer," said her daughter in a release.
Actos is used to control blood sugar levels in people with Type 2 diabetes. It has been sold in Canada since August 2000.
The lawyers issuing the class action, Toronto-based Rochon Genova, say that French and German health authorities halted sales of Actos after studies highlighted a possible increase in the risk of bladder cancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration now requires that the drug's label indicate that the risk of bladder cancer may increase after one year of using ACTOS.
"This safety information is based on FDA's review of data from a five-year interim analysis of an ongoing, ten-year epidemiological study," reads an agency press release from August 2011.
"The five-year results showed that although there was no overall increased risk of bladder cancer with pioglitazone use, an increased risk of bladder cancer was noted among patients with the longest exposure to pioglitazone, and in those exposed to the highest cumulative dose of pioglitazone."
Actos continues to be sold in Canada. In the product monograph for Actos on Health Canada's website, there is one line mentioning the risk of bladder cancer. "Postmarketing reports of bladder cancer have been reported very rarely with the use of pioglitazone."
Takeda Canada, the Canadian arm of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Share Tools
Top News Headlines
- Tories line up to argue CP Railway strike hurting economy
- Conservative cabinet ministers say they're protecting the economy by moving to legislate Canadian Pacific Railway workers back to their jobs less than a week after the union went on strike, while the employees say their right to collective bargaining is under attack. more »
- Missing Winnipeg kids found in Mexico back with mom
- Two Winnipeg children who had been missing for nearly four years are back home, reunited with their mother, after they were located in Mexico late last week. more »
- Bullyproof: One classroom confession
- Chadia became physically scarred after incessant teasing. Her story is one of 150 gathered in a video confessional booth at a Quebec school. more »
- Quebec resumes talks with student leaders
- Negotiations between student leaders and Quebec's Liberal government resumed this afternoon in a third attempt to resolve the tuition crisis. more »
Latest Health News Headlines
- 5 ways to prevent kids from getting poisoned
- Poison centres across Canada field about 160,000 calls a year about children exposed to medications and other household chemicals more »
- Dementia patients may not imagine their future
- Our ability to imagine our future depends on a part of the brain used to store general knowledge, which is affected by some forms of dementia. more »
- Eastern Health to cut hundreds of jobs, Liberals say
- Health Minister Susan Sullivan says spending cuts at the province's largest health authority will not hurt programs and services, despite a claim by the Opposition Liberals. more »
- Ontario knocked for special-needs student support
- The province should conduct a review of how it serves special-needs students and improve a policy to support connections between schools and the community, a new report urges. more »
FEATURED HEALTH
- Missing Winnipeg kids found in Mexico back with mom
- Canadian Everest climber's body recovered
- Thunder Bay flooding causes state of emergency
- Vatican denies cardinal suspected in leaks scandal
- Evolution skeptics will soon be silenced by science: Richard Leakey
- Tories line up to argue CP Railway strike hurting economy
- Remains found in bag on Cape Breton river ID'd
- Justin Bieber wanted for questioning in L.A. scuffle
- Accused in blast that killed Alberta mom handled her funds
