Actos drug can increase risk of bladder cancer in diabetes patients

In 2010, an estimated 70,530 people were diagnosed with bladder cancer and 14,680 lost their lives to the disease.

Although the exact cause of bladder cancer is unknown, it has been associated with a number of potential risk factors including chemical exposure and smoking. Bladder cancer has also been linked to the prolonged use of the diabetes drug Actos. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a safety announcement in 2011 warning that, “compared to never being exposed to pioglitazone, a duration of pioglitazone therapy longer than 12 months was associated with a 40% increase in risk.”

Diabetes patients who have taken the diabetes drug Actos and have been diagnosed with bladder cancer, may be entitled to compensation.

There have been a number of epidemiological studies of pioglitazone and its side effects. Several studies have cited a statistical link between the prolonged use of pioglitazone and an increased risk of bladder cancer.

The link between the diabetes drug and bladder cancer has been observed since 1999 when Takeda was busy testing the drug in order to present it to the FDA for approval. Animal studies at the time suggested that pioglitazone was linked to an increased risk of bladder cancer. Actos was approved in 1999 by the FDA without any warning or alert of this risk printed anywhere in the labeling of the drug.