Historic Actos RICO Class Action Against Big Pharma Could be Worth Billions

LOS ANGELES, June 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A federal court unsealed an order that certified a national multi-billion dollar class action against Takeda Pharmaceutical Company and Eli Lilly and Company, alleging that the companies violated the civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) by concealing the risk of Actos and bladder cancer. The Hon. John W. Holcomb appointed R. Brent Wisner and Michael L. Baum of Wisner Baum, LLP and Christopher L. Coffin of Pendley, Baudin & Coffin, LLP as national class counsel. The class consists of third-party payers in the United States that purchased Actos prescriptions between July 1, 1999 and September 17, 2010.

What You Need to Know:

• Painters and Allied Trades District Council 82 Health Care Fund v. Takeda Pharmaceuticals Co. is the first non-settlement national RICO class action lawsuit certified against Big Pharma.
• Takeda Pharmaceutical Company and Eli Lilly and Company allegedly conspired to hide the risk of bladder cancer associated with Actos (pioglitazone) because they knew that many prescribers and patients would not use the medication if they knew the truth. When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an alert on the bladder cancer risk, Actos sales fell by 80%; the costs of those excess sales were born by third-party payers.
• Experts say the damages under RICO could reach $7 billion or more.
• This case already created Ninth Circuit precedent in 2019, when it held that civil RICO claims could be brought against pharmaceutical companies. This is another watershed decision. The pharmaceutical industry is now on notice that, under certain circumstances, they can now be exposed to civil RICO liability on a class-wide basis.

Painters and Allied Trades District Council 82 Health Care Fund serves as class representative. Painters is a Minnesota union health fund that functions as a third-party payer of health and welfare benefits for covered members and their families. Painters reimburses members for drugs submitted by pharmacies and healthcare providers covered under the plan.

Painters is the first ever class action against a pharmaceutical company to be certified under the civil RICO statute, which can award plaintiffs "treble damages" caused by the defendants. With damages trebled, the case could reach $7 billion or more.

"We appreciate the Court's hard work in drafting such a detailed and careful order," said R. Brent Wisner, attorney for the classes. "It's a thoughtful order—one we have come to expect from Judge Holcomb. While this is the first pharmaceutical class to ever be certified under the federal civil RICO statute, the result should come as no surprise. It is rooted in well-established Ninth Circuit precedent and, frankly, commonsense. We will now be able to get this case to trial on behalf of a national class. It is about time we held Takeda and Lilly accountable for exposing millions of Americans to a carcinogen without their consent. Fraud should not pay—the use of civil RICO will help ensure that doesn't happen here. And, with a national class, the full scope of their corporate malfeasance will be tried together in one case."

Read more here. 

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SOURCE Wisner Baum