Actos Makers Challenge Certification of Third-Party Payor Class Action in 9th Cir.

SAN FRANCISCO — Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. and Eli Lilly and Co. are appealing a California federal judge’s certification of a $7 billion class action in which third-party payors (TPPs) accuse them of violating the civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act by concealing the risk of bladder cancer posed by their type 2 diabetes drug Actos.

In their petition to the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Takeda and Lilly argue that “countless doctors would still have prescribed Actos even if different warnings were provided” and that the TPPs have admitted “they had no common means of identifying the allegedly …