Verdict against Japan’s pharmaceutical giant Takeda raises concerns about health safety

Janet Phelan
Activist Post

The recent U.S court decision concerning Japanese pharmaceutical giant Takeda’s diabetes drug, Actos, raises concerns as to both the safety of pharmaceuticals and the integrity and intentionality of drug companies.

The 9 billion dollar punitive damages assessed against the pharmaceutical companies Takeda and Eli Lilly take into account evidence indicating that there was a concerted effort at Takeda to destroy documentation that their blockbuster diabetes drug caused bladder cancer.

Files and also emails were reportedly deleted at Takeda even after a court put a litigation hold on the company, blocking it from destroying files.

A look at the leadership of Takeda raises some red flags. For example, the resume of Tadataka Yamada, M.D.,who is listed as a director at Takeda, shows that he also worked as President of the Global Health Program at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Bill Gates has been widely reported as stating that vaccines and health care can be used to significantly reduce the population.

Indeed, a number of recent lawsuits have alleged the danger of some widely prescribed medications. Vioxx was pulled off the U.S. market in 2004 and was reported to have caused over 60,000 deaths. According to Wikipedia, “Merck withdrew the drug after disclosures that it withheld information about…risks from doctors and patients for over five years.” As with Takeda and Actos, we see intention by Merck to obscure information as to its product’s dangers.

In 2013, Johnson and Johnson agreed to pay over a billion dollars to resolve lawsuits alleging that the drug giant promoted the use of an antipsychotic medication, Risperdal, for non approved uses, including promoting its use with elderly patients. In fact, Risperdal is known to be life-threatening for elderly patients.

Once again, a drug company has promoted a drug with known risks.

Another director at Takeda, Frank Morich, MD, PhD, has a work history including a tenure as Chairman of the Board with Bayer AG. Bayer was formed out of the break-up of IG Farben following WWII. IG Farben produced the gas that was used to kill millions in the Eastern European death camps. Bayer’s more recent history includespaying a billion plus dollars to settle lawsuits over its contraceptive, Yasmin, which has been seen to cause clots and strokes.

In 2001, Bayer pulled Baycol off the market, after over 50 deaths were reported from the cholesterol- lowering drug. According to the Dr. Rath foundation, the dangers inherent in Baycol would have been known for over a decade.

In 2003, Bayer was reported as knowingly selling a blood clotting agent tainted with HIV in Asia and Latin America, while selling a safer version of the same drug in the U.S.

Bayer has also sued the EU, after a ban was placed on Bayer’s pesticides, linking its neonicotinoid pesticides to millions of bee deaths. Bayer is suing to allow its pesticides back on the market. Bayer has also settled lawsuits filed concerning its promulgation of genetically modified rice which had not been FDA approved.

Bayer has been reported as owning water systems globally, through its subsidiaries. The company has declined to respond to queries concerning this. Bayer has, however, cross- pollinated through RWE, a blue chip water utility company in Germany. Dr. Manfred Schneider, who is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of RWE AG, has had a long and illustrious career with Bayer, including serving for ten years as Bayer Management Board Chairman.

Through its subsidiary American Water, RWE became the largest investor-owned water company in the United States. The company divested its holdings in American Water in 2008. Repeated concerns have emerged concerning the implications of the covert construction of a double line water system throughout the United States, a system which could conceivably be used as a chem/bio delivery system.

Possibly Bill Gates said it straight. Health care, at least as provided by the products of the big drug companies, may be a problematic concern at this juncture. In addition, the involvement of pharmaceutical companies in water systems deserves critical scrutiny. After all, whether or not we choose to take pharmaceuticals, we all drink water.

Janet C. Phelan, investigative journalist and human rights defender that has traveled pretty extensively over the Asian region, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook” where this article first appeared.