Louisiana federal judge Rebecca Doherty ruled that the files of 46 Takeda employees had been deliberately destroyed or deleted by Takeda Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. The destroyed and deleted documents had been created and maintained by key Takeda executives including board members, presidents, vice presidents, senior vice presidents, and senior managers, as well as sales representatives who would have been familiar with day to day marketing and distribution. Those individuals’ areas of responsibility included research and development, strategic planning, scientific research, distribution, sales, and marketing. The judge stated in an earlier ruling: “The breadth of Takeda leadership whose files have been lost, deleted or destroyed is, in and of itself, disturbing,”
This ruling confirmed Judge Doherty’s decision to allow evidence about destroyed documents to be presented to the jury during the Allen v. Takeda trial, the first bellwether case in the federal MDL. Takeda and its US marketing partner Eli Lilly & Co., were ordered by that jury to pay the Allens $9 billion in punitive damages, as well as $1.5 million in compensatory damages for Terrance Allen’s diagnosis of bladder cancer after taking Actos.
More than 3,000 lawsuits are currently consolidated in the Western District of Louisiana against Takeda claiming that the drug maker concealed from and failed to warn users of Actos that the drug was known to cause bladder cancer.
Thornton Law Firm has assembled a team of Massachusetts Actos lawyers to pursue claims against the manufacturer of Actos, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and the company that co-marketed Actos in the United States for many years, Eli Lilly & Co. Thornton Law Firm is actively litigating these claims now. If you believe you developed bladder cancer after taking Actos, please tell us your story here or call 1-888-491-9726 for a free, confidential evaluation of your claim. You have legal rights, and those rights have strict time limits. Do not delay seeking legal advice.
