A recent report about the high cardiovascular risk associated with the diabetes drug Avandia has caused a steep decline in its sales and resulted in a large increase in the sales of competing diabetes drug Actos. Actos has been so successful lately because it has been perceived as the ‘safer’ of the two options. Both Actos and Avandia are part of the family of drugs known as thiazolidinediones which are used to decrease insulin resistance of body tissues and alter the body’s production of cholesterol.

The study which plagued Avandia originally stated that they didn’t see the same heart failure risks associated with Actos, but new information has come to light regarding Actos and heart failure. A new study published examined the records of over 28,000 patients who took both drugs and determined that there may in fact be a higher risk of heart failure with the use of Actos. Some of the results of the study are as follows:

• 96 patients on Avandia suffered a heart attack, compared with 121 on Actos;
• 265 on Avandia suffered heart failure, compared with 243 on Actos;
• 24 on Avandia suffered both heart attack and heart failure, compared with 18 on Actos;
• 217 on Avandia and 217 on Actos died.

They reported in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes that, when they accounted for potential confounding effects, including age, gender and prior heart disease, about 4% of each group had a heart attack, heart failure or died. Specifically: “What distinguishes this latest study from other claims-based analyses is its analysis of death records, which include out-of-hospital deaths,” Wertz said in a statement. The study also followed patients for a longer period of time than earlier studies and the patients were younger, she added. Unlike the earlier studies, however, it did not include strokes in the data, which may account for part of the difference in outcomes.

This study about Actos’ risk of heart failure caused the diabetes drug to also be required to carry a ‘black box’ warning about heart failure. A black box warning is the strongest provision that the FDA enacts short of removing a drug from the market. Recent studies have also been published warning of an increased risk of bladder cancer associated with the use of Actos.

Actos Heart Failure Lawsuit

If you or a family member took Takeda Pharmaceutical’s drug Actos (pioglitazone) and you have developed heart failure, we encourage you to contact a pharmaceutical lawyer at our firm immediately. An experienced pharmaceutical products liability lawyer at the Willis Law Firm can assist you in legal action in a potential Actos heart failure lawsuit against the makers of the drug.

Please fill out our online legal evaluation form to the right or call us and we will contact you within 4-12 hours for a free confidential case review. Contact our law firm immediately so that we may explain the rights and options available to you and your family.