Takeda Accused of Putting Actos Profit Ahead of Safety

By Jef Feeley

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. (4502) was accused by a lawyer for a woman who blames Actos for her cancer of sacrificing safety for profit by failing to warn patients and doctors about the diabetes medicine’s risks.

Executives at Osaka, Japan-based Takeda knew by 2004 that studies found links between Actos and cancer, and didn’t issue a warning until seven years later to protect billions of dollars in sales of the drug, Michael Miller told a state-court jury in Philadelphia yesterday.

“Takeda chose to protect profits rather than patients,” Miller said in closing arguments in the trial of Frances Wisniewski’s lawsuit against the drugmaker. The company’s main goal was “to protect the product,” Miller added.

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