A California woman has filed an Abilify gambling lawsuit against the manufacturers of her medication, holding them responsible for her compulsive gambling habit while taking the drug.

Plaintiff Tania T. has filed her Abilify gambling lawsuit naming Bristol-Myers Squibb and Otsuka Pharmaceutical among the defendants. Tania claims she took Abilify from 2013 to 2016.

Abilify is a an atypical antipsychotic medication that is considered a second generation antipsychotic. It is used to treat bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, Tourette’s disorder, major depressive disorder and certain symptoms of autism such as irritability, aggression, temper tantrums, mood swings and self injury.

Aripiprazole, Abilify’s generic name, was first introduced to the American market when it was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2002. It is both a dopamine and serotonin agonist.

Abilify rebalances the dopamine and serotonin in the brain by either blocking too much of the two chemicals or enhancing them. It is considered a stabilizer for the dopamine-seratonin system and may be used alongside other medications to treat schizophrenia, bipolar 1 disorder and other conditions.

However, Abilify has been connected with some serious and alarming side effects. Even though many claim that the drug manufacturers knew about some of these side effects, the public and medical community were not warned until much later.

Abilify and Compulsive Behaviors

As far back as 2012, European regulation agencies were warning Abilify patients of its connection with pathological addictive behaviors like compulsive gambling. Additionally, Abilify use has been linked to compulsive shopping and hypersexual behavior in those who take it.

A few years later in 2015, Canada warned Abilify users that the drug can be connected to compulsive gambling and compulsive sexual behavior. Because Abilify works with dopamine, which is the pleasure and reward chemical of the brain, this may be the reason why Abilify is linked with compulsive behaviors such as these.

In 2014, Thomas J. Moore, a senior scientist for the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, studied nearly 1,600 cases of compulsive behaviors and dopamine agonist drugs over a period of ten years. He found that the associations between dopamine agonist drugs and compulsive behaviors were significant.

Tania’s Abilfy gambling lawsuit asserts that as a result of her use of Abilify, she “developed compulsive gambling behaviors and has suffered the following losses: monetary losses in excess of $60,000, loss of financial stability, and other mental, physical and economic losses.”

Furthermore, the Abilify gambling lawsuit claims, “The injurious impact of Abilify on Plaintiff’s brain constitutes a physical injury. Plaintiff has suffered, and will continue to suffer, neuropsychiatric and physical injury, emotional distress, harm, and economic loss.”

Tania’s Abilify gambling lawsuit holds the drug manufacturers responsible for strict liability, breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty, negligence, negligence per se, negligent misrepresentation, violation of consumer protection laws, fraudulent concealment and punitive damages.

Tania’s Abilify gambling lawsuit is not alone. Many patients have filed products liability lawsuits against Otsuka and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

This Abilify Gambling Lawsuit is Case No. 3:17-cv-00720-MCR-GRJ in United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Pensacola Division.