Takeda, Lilly Rejected by Supreme Court on Actos Fraud Lawsuit

The US Supreme Court cleared the way for a multibillion-dollar racketeering lawsuit that accuses Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. and Eli Lilly & Co. of marketing the Actos diabetes drug without disclosing its link to bladder cancer.

In a one-line order Monday, the high court refused to consider the companies’ contention that the case shouldn’t go forward as a class action on behalf of tens of thousands of insurers and other so-called third-party payers who covered the cost of Actos prescriptions. The drug companies said a federal appeals court improperly approved the group suit without a viable way of excluding class members who hadn’t suffered any harm.