The verdict calls for Japan-based Takeda to shoulder the brunt of the damages and pay $6 billion, while Eli Lilly, Takeda’s co-defendant and US distributor, was ordered to pay $3 billion.
According to Reuters, plaintiffs’ lawyer Mark Lanier said the verdict was delivered to “stunned silence” in the courtroom, as it topped even the $5 billion in damages levied against Exxon Mobile for the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.
Lanier represented a former Actos user named Terrence Allen, who had sued Takeda alleging that its drug caused his bladder cancer. He was also awarded approximately $1.5 million in compensatory damages.
“I hope Takeda executives in Japan heard what this jury had to say loudly and clearly,” Lanier told Bloomberg News after the verdict was announced.
Read more at: http://rt.com/usa/jury-orders-actos-diabetes-drug-193/
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