In September 2010 at the Madison County, Illinois Circuit County Court, Robert and Jewell Bettorf filed an actos bladder cancer lawsuit against Takeda Pharmaceuticals. The plaintiffs complaint was that Mr. Bettorf had started taking Actos to treat his type II diabetes back in 2007, and developed bladder cancer as a result of taking the drug longer than 12 months.

Bettorf alleges that Takeda Pharmaceuticals were very much aware of the Actos injury possibilities but failed to properly warn consumers. Some arguments have also been made that Takeda intentionally withheld side effect information in an attempt to maximize their profits. In 2010, the company brought in $4.3 billion in sales from the increase in popularity of Actos.

Since its release in July 1999, millions of customers have found favor in using the Actos drug which is used to aid the body’s sensitivity to insulin. In France however, after numerous Actos bladder cancer cases had been reported, Actos was banned completely. Many have suggested that Actos should be banned in the United States as well.

Millions of victims are filing Actos lawsuits against Takeda Pharmaceuticals seeking judgment for financial compensation and medical monitoring. About 54 of these cases are individual lawsuits along with the possibility of one large Actos class action lawsuit.  A decision regarding whether the Actos class action lawsuit and 50 individual cases should be centralized was made on December 1, 2011 in the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. No report has been issued yet regarding a final decision.

In the meantime, plaintiff Bettorf is seeking an excess judgment of $50,000 for the Actos injury along with damages for strict liability, negligent failure to warn, negligent design defect, negligence, breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty, negligent misrepresentation, and violation of Illinois Consumer Protection Laws and loss of consortium.