Actos lawsuit settlement for $2.2 Billion

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. has offered to pay more than $2.2 billion to resolve claims of hiding its Actos diabetes medicine’s cancer risks in what would be one of the largest U.S. settlements of patient lawsuits targeting drugs or devices.

Takeda propose to settle more than 8,000 lawsuits in federal and state courts in the U.S.

A federal jury in Louisiana last year ordered Takeda and Eli Lilly & Co. to pay a combined $9 billion in damages to a shopkeeper who blamed Actos for causing his bladder cancer. That award, the seventh-largest in U.S. history based on data compiled by Bloomberg, was later reduced by more than 99 percent to $36.8 million by a judge.

A final deal hasn’t been reached and the talks could still fall apart, the people said. Takeda also could choose to settle some lawyers’ inventories of cases under the $2.2 billion proposal and continue negotiations on others, the people added.

There’s opposition to Takeda’s settlement offer from some lawyers who have sued the drugmaker over Actos, the people familiar with it said. Some attorneys contend $2.2 billion isn’t enough compensation for all patients who developed bladder cancer after taking the drug, the people said.