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Actos is a drug that is used to treat Type II diabetes, a condition in which the body does not use insulin normally and is unable to control the amount of sugar in blood.  Actos is a thiazolidinedione, which works by increasing the body’s sensitivity to insulin, a substance that helps control blood sugar levels.  Actos is manufactured by Takeda Pharmaceuticals, and was approved for use by the FDA on July 15,1999.

Side effects include shortness of breath, swelling or rapid weight gain, chest pain, nausea, stomach pain, loss of appetite, jaundice, blurred vision, increased thirst or hunger, easy bruising or bleeding, headache, muscle pain and tooth problems.  In addition, studies have indicated that Actos can increase the risk of bone fractures.

Actos has also been linked to an increased risk of congestive heart failure caused by a buildup of fluid in the body.  The risk is so serious, that the FDA instructed Takeda Pharmaceuticals to include a black box warning on Actos packaging.  A black box warning is the highest warning that a medication can carry while remaining on the market.

In June of 2011, the FDA announced that the use of Actos for more than one year may be associated with an increased risk of bladder cancer.  That same month, officials in France and Germany announced that they were pulling the drug from the market due to similar concerns.  In a study involving more than 193,000 patients with diabetes, the patients who toke Actos for longer than twelve months had a 40% increased risk of developing bladder cancer.  The FDA has advised doctors not to prescribe Actos to patients with bladder cancer and to use it with caution in patients who have had bladder cancer.