Japan’s Takeda agrees to pay S$3.2 billion in diabetes drug suit

TOKYO — Japan’s largest drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical said today (April 29) it has agreed to pay US$2.4 billion (S$3.2 billion) to thousands of patients and their families over its diabetes drug Actos which has been linked to cancer.

Takeda faces 9,000 product liability lawsuits in the US, in which the plaintiffs say the company failed to inform them of the drug’s cancer risks.

The company said today that the settlement would resolve most of the lawsuits though it does not admit liability.

The settlement will go into effect if 95 per cent of the litigants agree to the deal, and the company would pay US$2.37 billion. If the number of participants rises to 97 or more, Takeda will pay US$2.4 billion.

A previous legal battle in the US District Court in western Louisiana last year turned on whether Actos, a drug used to treat type-two diabetes, caused a patient’s bladder cancer and by implication was responsible for other cases of the cancer.

Takeda said it would set aside US$2.7 billion against earnings in the January-March quarter to cover the settlement and related costs.

It would cause the company a group net loss of 145 billion yen (S$1.6 billion) for the business year ended March 31, sending it into the red for the first time since its 1949 listing. AP