Blue Cross Blue Shield Accuses Takeda of Failing to Warn of Link Between Actos and Bladder Cancer

LAFAYETTE, La. — Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts Inc. has sued Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America Inc., seeking to recover damages for sums the healthcare provider paid on behalf of insureds who developed bladder cancer allegedly as a result of their ingestion of the type II diabetes drug Actos.

In a June 11 complaint filed in the Actos multidistrict litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Blue Cross accuses Takeda of concealing its knowledge that Actos can cause bladder cancer and of failing to warn doctors and patients that taking Actos for more than …