Quoted from http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/09/france-pharma-idUSLDE7581P420110609
France suspends Takeda diabetes drugs use
PARIS, June 9 | Thu Jun 9, 2011 10:15am EDT
PARIS, June 9 (Reuters) - France's drug safety authority said on Thursday it had suspended the use of two diabetes treatments from Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. because of concerns about cancer risks.
The AFSSAPS drug authority said it had decided to pull the drugs Actos and Competact because an official study had found they appeared to slightly raise the risk of patients getting cancer of the bladder.
The authority told doctors to stop prescribing the two drugs, but said people who use them should continue to do so until they can consult their doctors.
AFSSAPS said it decided to suspend the drugs after a recent study by the French public health insurance office highlighted the cancer risk of an ingredient called pioglitazone.
Actos was approved for use in Europe in 2000 and Competact in 2006 and some 230,000 people use the drugs in France, according to AFSSAPS.