Judge Thwarts Takeda, Lilly’s Efforts to Overturn $9 Billion Actos Verdict

LAFAYETTE, La. — A Louisiana judge has rejected efforts by Takeda Pharmaceutical Inc. and Eli Lilly & Co. to throw out a $9 billion punitive damage verdict issued in the first Actos bellwether case to go to trial, finding the evidence presented at trial supported the jury’s findings that the drug makers knew of the risk of bladder cancer posed by the drug, yet failed to disclose the potential harm to both the plaintiff and his doctor.

On Aug. 29, Judge Rebecca F. Doherty of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana further found the plaintiffs presented …