The billionaire figure was imposed on the multinational Takeda and its partner Eli Lilly for hiding the health risks generated by 'acts'.
Take that Takeda Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly, their partner in the United States, hide the risks of contract, US $ 9,000 million.
Takeda, the largest pharmaceutical of Asia and whose headquarters is in Tokyo, Japan, will be responsible for paying US $ 6,000 million.
The sanction is one of the highest imposed on a multinational and opens the doors so that, after this trial, hundreds of similar cases began to appear after 1999, when the drug entered the American market.
Shortly after having done it, acts, which turned out to be one of the best options to treat type 2 diabetes, became one of the most popular of the Japanese company.Even in 2008, its best year in sales, managed to raise US $ 3,850 million in the world.
It is estimated that, throughout this decade it could have generated income for US $ 16,000 million.
But it was enough for a couple more years to start associating with health problems.In fact, this trial in Lafayette, which lasted about two months, was the fourth that was held in the US.
And although the payment of the Japanese company to the 2,700 plaintiffs will not yet be certain, it is expected to begin to advance similar processes in Nevada and Illinois.
Already on another occasion the same jury had granted US $ 1.5 billion in compensatory damages to Terrence Allen, who because of the medicine developed bladder cancer.
However, the pharmaceutical directives rejected the decision.In a statement they said that they will resort to all legal means to deal with the fine.They also said that they are able to demonstrate that they acted in responsibility by informing the public about the risks associated with acts, a medicine that two years ago had been suspended in France and Germany.
And despite the fact that the measure is historical for being one of the highest imposed on a pharmacist, the United States Supreme Court may reduce the amount significantly as has happened with other companies.
A sanction of US $ 5,000 against Exxonmobil, for example, was at US $ 500 million.
However, the results of the ruling have already begun to be seen: Takeda lost 5% its stock market capitalization in the Tokyo market, while Eli Lilly, in charge of marketing acts in the US, Mexico and Canada, had stumbling blocks in the day in the day in the day inWall Street.
