April 9, 2014
A Lafayette Louisiana Federal District Court jury found Takeda Pharmacuticals responsible for it’s drug Actos causing bladder cancer. Aktos was marketed as to treat Type 2 Diabetes. The plaintiff began taking the drug in 2006 and was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2011. It wasnt until late 2011 that Takeda changed the warning on the drug to state that usage over one year could increase the chances of cancer.
The jury found the drug company liable and awarded $1,475,000.00 in compensatory damages for the plaintiff’s injuries and 9,000,000,000.00 (billion) as puntive damages to deter the defendant and other companies from violating the trust of the public in the future.
Congradulations to the jury that did what was right and stood up to the drug company and sent a very clear message that all a persons life is more important than corporate profits.