In March of this year, US District Judge F. Dennis Saylor had Dr. Helen Ge’s whistleblower case against Takeda Pharmaceuticals unsealed. The case was initially filed in 2010 against the pharmaceutical giant, claiming the company failed to properly report adverse side effects, such as bladder cancer and congestive heart failure, to the FDA. Dr. Helen Ge is a medical doctor, and former safety consultant to Takeda. She claims her contract was terminated after raising concerns over the company’s reporting process to executives.
Dr. Ge’s case comes in the midst of a fury of cases against Takeda Pharmaceuticals, which have been consolidated into Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) 2299, in the US District Court of Western Louisiana (Lafayette). The Honorable Rebecca Doherty presides over the case, and she has recently extended the case filing deadline in order to collect as much information about Takeda’s potential fraud.
Dr. Ge alleges that the company hid or changed the results of some studies. In her complaint, filed in 2010, Ge states: “These events were not properly identified or reported in the FDA’s safety database … Takeda’s motivation to fraudulently report and under-report the serious adverse events was driven by an economic desire to falsely enhance Actos’s safety profile and to increase sales.”
While many of the suits against Takeda Pharmaceuticals are for personal damages, Ge’s case is a qui tam suit, meaning that she specifically seeks damages and civil penalties on the US Government’s behalf. However, the False Claims Act suit seeks three times the amount of damages that the states and the federal government incurred. The governments allegedly lost money as prescriptions for Actos were written unnecessarily, causing Medicare and Medicaid to overpay for the medication. Ge stands to earn as much as thirty percent of the award.
If you live in South Carolina, and you or a loved one have been diagnosed with liver failure, heart disease, or bladder cancer related to taking Actos for your diabetes, the experienced professionals at Strom Law, LLC, can help. Contact us today for a free consultation. We can help get you on the path to recovery. 803.252.4800
