Articles Tagged with Risperdal Lawsuit

The latest and largest Risperdal jury award is the fifth instance where juries found that the makers of Risperdal did not provide adequate warning of Risperdal’s risks to patients and doctors.

A Philadelphia jury awarded Andrew Yount $70 million after he suffered from Risperdal side effects. The Tennessee boy started taking Risperdal in 2003 when he was just five years old and developed gynecomastia (male breast growth) just one year after taking the anti-psychotic medication.

During the trial, it was the boy’s father testimony that convinced the jury that the giant drug company intentionally falsified, concealed or destroyed evidence. Attorneys’ representing Yount argued that Janssen, the manufacturer of Risperdal, knew about the link between Risperdal and gynecomastia yet decided to withhold that information. Yount’s attorneys provided Janssen’s internal documents that showed it purposely limited the medical community’s understanding of the risks associated with Risperdal.

Medical studies and recent lawsuits against the makers of Risperdal have helped highlight the links between the drug and gynecomastia, a condition that causes males to grow breasts.

A 2006 study conducted by Duke University showed that Risperdal was associated with gynecomastia and that it may cause lactation in girls, boys, and women not pregnant or nursing.

Despite this knowledge, the FDA approved Risperdal for the treatment of schizophrenia in children and bipolar disorder in both children and adults in 2007. The year after the FDA approval, the Wall Street Journal reported that Risperdal had been shown to increase prolactin levels (leading to breast development and lactation) and experts stated that up to 70 percent of gynecomastia childhood events were found to be caused by Risperdal use.

Medical studies and recent lawsuits against the makers of Risperdal have helped highlight the links between the drug and gynecomastia, a condition that causes males to grow breasts.

A 2006 study conducted by Duke University showed that Risperdal was associated with gynecomastia and that it may cause lactation in girls, boys, and women not pregnant or nursing.

Despite this knowledge, the FDA approved Risperdal for the treatment of schizophrenia in children and bipolar disorder in both children and adults in 2007. The year after the FDA approval, the Wall Street Journal reported that Risperdal had been shown to increase prolactin levels (leading to breast development and lactation) and experts stated that up to 70 percent of gynecomastia childhood events were found to be caused by Risperdal use.

Risperdal is atypical antipsychotic that changes the effect of brain chemicals. The U.S. Department of Justice said that the makers of Risperdal illegally marketed drug to children. According to a former Johnson and Johnson sales manager, the company didn’t wait to obtain FDA approval before promoting its use for children.

During a Risperdal trial in Pennsylvania, a Johnson and Johnson sales manager admitted that the company trained salespeople to promote Risperdal to children as early as 2003. This was despite the fact that the drug was not approved for use by children.

This has led to a growing number of lawsuits against the company by several men who took the drug when they were children and developed male breasts, a condition known as Gynecomastia. Over the past few years, juries have awarded $2.5 million, $1.75 million, and $500,000 in cases filed in a Pennsylvania state court. Several other cases are expected to move forward in the next few months.