Quoted from http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/10/takeda-germany-idUSL3E7HA0X920110610
Germany joins France in suspending top Takeda drug
Fri Jun 10, 2011 7:40am EDT
By James Topham and Ben Hirschler
TOKYO/LONDON, June 10 (Reuters) - Germany has joined Francein suspending the use of Takeda Pharmaceutical's Actos diabetes drug, due to worries about a possible link to cancer.
The move is a blow for the Japanese firm, whose best-selling drug has worldwide sales of close to $5 billion, though the financial impact will be limited by the fact the drug faces looming generic competition in key markets.
Shares in Takeda fell 2.9 percent on Friday, against a 0.5 percent rise in the benchmark Nikkei average.
On Thursday, France's drug safety authority suspended use of both Actos and Competact -- which combines Actos and an older drug called metformin -- after an official French study found they appeared to slightly raise the risk of bladder cancer.
Germany's Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) said it had decided to follow suit after receiving results of the study by France's national health insurance body, which tracked patients on diabetes drugs between 2006 and 2009.
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