Ashley Milano  |  April 1, 2015

Category: Legal News

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medication side effectsAn important new study done by a team of researchers from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada confirms a clear link between the use of the widely used antipsychotic drug Risperdal and male breast growth, or gynecomastia.

Using the information from a U.S. health claims database of approximately 1 million men, Dr. Mahyar Etminan, and his team at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, found that Risperdal users had a 69 percent higher risk of developing gynecomastia than non-Risperdal users. The UBC study is the largest and first study of its kind. Dr. Etminan is also a drug safety researcher in the Therapeutic Evaluation Unit at Provincial Health Services Authority of British Columbia.

Although the subjects in this Risperdal side effects study were older men, Dr. Etminan believes that Risperdal gynecomastia can also occur in younger boys.

“This is the first and largest epidemiologic study on this question using data from 1 million men in the United States,” said Dr. Etminan in comments published in Medscape Medical News (3/17/14). “There has been a lot of interest on the risk of gynecomastia with Risperdal, mainly in adolescent boys but also in older men. There have been reports to the FDA and case reports from academics.”

Dr. Etminan echoed the fact that having such a large dataset allowed them to arrive at some significant conclusions for what is still generally held as a rare adverse incident. “Because we had a million men in our population, we were able to pick [gynecomastia] up.”

Etminan went on to say that doctors and clinicians with younger patients in need of an antipsychotic, might well be advised to consider an alternate medication for their patients. “If everything is the same in terms of efficacy in these antipsychotics, especially for younger men who may have more problems with this psychologically, then I think it may be better to choose something other than risperidone.”

Risperdal Side Effects

Risperdal (risperidone) is an atypical antipsychotic that is prescribed for a variety of issues, not the least of which pertains to attention deficit disorders in adolescents and young adults. As a result, many male adolescents and young men have been experiencing growth of male breasts (gynecomastia), treatment for which is often surgery to remove the offending breast tissue.

Other Risperdal side effects include diabetes and stroke; however, gynecomastia appears to be the side effect that attracts the most attention due to the physiological changes Risperdal can have toward a patient.

Risperdal Lawsuits

Many a Risperdal lawsuit has originated from gynecomastia, which can affect an individual’s self-esteem and social interaction with peers. The makers of Risperdal, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson, is the target of approximately 200 Risperdal lawsuits in the U.S. and Canada that claim the drug causes gynecomastia and other endocrine complications, including weight gain, damage to sexual function and diabetes.

Last fall, the pharmaceutical giant was ordered to pay $2.2 billion in damages for civil and criminal liability for hiding dangerous side effects, and pursuing an aggressive marketing campaign designed to expand the use of Risperdal off-label to patient groups with Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Do YOU have a legal claim? Fill out the form on this page now for a free, immediate, and confidential case evaluation. The Risperdal attorneys who work with Top Class Actions will contact you if you qualify to let you know if an individual lawsuit or Risperdal class action lawsuit is best for you. [In general, Risperdal lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.] Hurry — statutes of limitations may apply.

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If you or your son took Risperdal between the ages of 10 and 18 years old and suffered gynecomastia (male breast growth), male breast pain, nipple pain, or nipple discharge, you may be entitled to compensation. See if you qualify by submitting your information below for a free and confidential case review.

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