An Abilify gambling lawsuit was initiated by a former user of the medication in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Pensacola Division on Aug. 28, 2017.

The plaintiff, Loretta B.K. – a resident of the State of Mississippi – effectively joined the multidistrict litigation (MDL) against the companies, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Otsuka Pharmaceutical, developers, makers, and distributors of Abilify or aripiprazole.

According to the short form complaint associated with this Abilify gambling lawsuit, the plaintiff took the medication for slightly over a three-year period from October 2013 to November 2016.

Loretta alleges she developed highly-compulsive behaviors because of this drug consumption, one of which was gambling.

Abilify’s History and the MDL’s Allegations

In the late fall of 2002, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Abilify to market domestically. It is an anti-psychotic medication used primarily in the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It is also used adjunctively to treat major depressive disorder.

According to the legal paperwork of the Abilify gambling lawsuit, Abilify is a major revenue-producing drug. The defendants allegedly reported sales of $2.3 billion in 2013.

In the late fall of 2012, the European Medicines Agency required the defendants to warn the European medical professional community and patient consumers that use of Ability increase the risk of pathological gambling.

Approximately three years later in the late fall of 2015, Canadian drug regulators insisted that a new warning about the possible relationship between gambling and Abilify use be added to the label of the medication. No effort was made on the part of the defendants to extend these warnings to the U.S. domestic market until January 2016.

In January 2016, the connection between compulsive gambling and use of Abilify was added to the post-marketing experience section of the label and not the patient medication guide where it would be clearly seen.

It was not until May 2016 that the FDA issued a warning that the medication had been associated with compulsive behaviors such as gambling, hyper-sexuality, shopping and overeating.

The Particulars of this Case

In this Abilify gambling lawsuit, Loretta is bringing the following counts against the defendants: Count One –Strict Liability; Count Two –Breach of Express Warranty; Count Four –Negligence; Count Five –Negligence Per Se; Count Six –Negligent Misrepresentation; Count Seven –Violation of Mississippi’s Consumer Protection Law; Count Eight –Fraudulent Concealment; Count Ten – Punitive Damages.

The plaintiff is asking for a trial by jury, with a favorable judgement on her behalf. She requests relief in the form of damages for neuropsychiatric, mental, physical, and financial pain and suffering.

Furthermore, she requests a return of all litigation costs in the form of court fees, attorney fees and related expenditures. She wishes further damages would be assessed for her mental and emotional anguish.

As part of the wider Abilify gambling lawsuit, she hopes to see punitive damages assessed against the defendants for their deception and failure to alert the medical community and public of the known relationship between Abilify use and compulsive behaviors.

The Abilify Gambling Lawsuit is Case No. 3:17-cv-00652-MCR-GRJ in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Pensacola Division.