Abilify drug side effects are the subject of yet another lawsuit alleging that the drug causes compulsive gambling and other impulsive behaviors.

Plaintiff Carolyn M. recently filed a lawsuit against Bristol-Myers Squibb and Otsuka, alleging that Abilify drug side effects include compulsive gambling. Carolyn has filed her lawsuit as part of an ongoing multi district litigation.

Carolyn says she took Abilify from October 2012 until the present and reportedly experienced compulsive gambling and compulsive spending. Due to these allegedly uncontrollable Abilify drug side effects, Carolyn says she suffered from financial losses and negatively impacted personal relationships. These damages have allegedly made her depression, anxiety, and emotional distress worse.

Abilify Drug Side Effects

Abilify (aripiprazole) is an anti-psychotic drug used to treat depression, bipolar I disorder, and schizophrenia. The drug reportedly works by influencing dopamine receptors in the brain. This mechanism, allegedly linked to gambling addictions, affects the rewards center of the brain. This link is thought to cause Abilify drug side effects including compulsive gambling.

The lawsuit claims that the drug manufacturers knew about Abilify drug side effects. In September 2011, defendants released their Periodic Safety Update Report, stating that an article “does suggest a possible mechanism by which drugs that act on dopamine neurons, like aripiprazole, might possibly have some effect on behavior related to reward.” The referenced article, The Neural Circuitry of Reward and Its Relevance to Psychiatric Disorders, pointed to the drug’s affect on dopamine receptors as the cause of Abilify drug side effects.

The lawsuit also points to regulatory policies around the world as evidence for the manfaucturers’ knowledge of Abilify drug side effects. As early as 2012, regulatory bodies in both Canada and Europe included additional label warnings about Abilify side effects including “pathological gambling,” according to the lawsuit.

“Defendants knew or should have known that Abilify, when taken as prescribed and intended, causes and contributes to an increased risk of serious and dangerous side effects including, without limitation, uncontrollable compulsive behaviors such as compulsive gambling,” the Abilify drug side effects lawsuit claims.

In May 2016, the FDA announced that it would be including a new label warnings for Abilify drug side effects including “compulsive or uncontrollable urges to gamble, binge eat, shop, and have sex”. However, these new warnings do not benefit consumers who have already experienced Abilify drug side effects since its approval in 2002.

“Defendants wrongfully and unjustly profited at the expense of patient safety and full disclosure to the medical community by failing to include language about gambling in the United States labeling and by failing to otherwise warn the public and the medical community about Abilify’s association with gambling— despite opportunities and a duty to do so,” the complaint states.

Carolyn accuses the defendants of strict liability, breach of warranties, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, violation of consumer protection laws, fraudulent concealment, and loss of consortium. The Abilify drug side effects lawsuit seeks actual damages, compensatory damages, punitive damages, court costs and attorneys’ fees.

The Abilify Drug Side Effects Lawsuit is Case No. 3:18-cv-01537-MCR-GRJ and is part of the Abilify MDL, In re: Abilify (aripiprazole) Products Liability Litigation, Case No. 3:16-md-02734-MCR-GRJ, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida.