Judge Orders Jury to Consider Takeda’s Spoliation of Evidence at First Actos Bellwether Trial

LAFAYETTE, La. — On the eve of the first Actos bellwether trial, the judge overseeing the federal multidistrict litigation says he will allow the jury to hear all evidence as to whether Takeda Pharmaceuticals Inc. acted in bad faith by destroying files that addressed the risk of bladder cancer allegedly posed by the drug.

In a Jan. 27 order, Judge Rebecca F. Doherty of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana ruled that the jury should also be given instruction “in a manner congruent with that evidence.”

“This court finds itself without persuasive, credible, and informed …