Actos Lawsuit Alleges Drug Linked to Bladder Cancer Risk

In the past months, numerous Actos lawsuits have been filed. Girard Gibbs and other law firms representing plaintiffs in the ongoing Actos lawsuits have filed requests to centralize the numerous cases through a process known as MDL, or multidistrict litigation. Recently, lawyers representing Takeda Pharmaceuticals filed papers in support of centralizing the cases before a single judge.

The purpose of MDL is to allow all pending federal cases dealing with a similar issue—Actos in this case—to be sent to a single judge, allowing for the more efficient processing of each case, saving time and money. While both parties involved in the Actos lawsuits support MDL, the decision ultimately rests in a panel of judges known as the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. On December 1, 2011, the Panel will hear counsel’s arguments in support of centralizing the cases.

The two main jobs of the Panel are:

To determine whether similar cases that have been filed in different courts involve enough common factual questions so that the panel can transfer these cases into one court; and
To select the specific court and judge to be assigned to manage those cases.
Already dozens of Actos lawsuits have been filed against Takeda in regards to allegations that the pharmaceutical giant failed to alert users of serious health risks, including kidney and bladder cancer. Many more cases are still expected to be filed.