Multiple Abilify lawsuits have been combined into one Abilify gambling side effects lawsuit in Florida.

The multidistrict litigation, or MDL, against Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. And Otsuka American Pharmaceutical Inc. will be presided over by Northern District of Florida Chief Judge M. Casey Rodgers.

Abilify is generically known as aripiprazole. According to the Abilify gambling side effects lawsuit, 24 million people have taken the drug over the last 13 years to treat a variety of conditions including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression and Tourette’s syndrome.

The FDA revised Abilify’s label in May 2016 to include the drug could cause “compulsive or uncontrollable urges to gamble, binge eat, shop and have sex.”

The FDA notes that since 2002, 184 case reports indicate a link between Abilify and impulse-control problems, including compulsive eating, spending, shopping, gambling and sexual behaviors.

One plaintiff said he lost more than $75,000 through gambling over the three years he was taking Abilify.

He said his undeniable need to gamble subsided when he quit taking Abilify. Many of other plaintiffs share similar stories of developing uncontrollable urges while on Abilify.

Abilify Gambling Side Effects Lawsuit Commonalities

The MDL combines more than 40 Abilify lawsuits that have been filed in Florida, California, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The U.S. Judicial Panel will allow key filings, discovery, and rulings to be entered into the court system through Judge Rodgers in Pensacola and then distributed across the country to be used in the other cases.

With many similarities in facts and witnesses in the Abilify gambling side effects lawsuits, motions were granted to allow these centralized pretrial proceedings to occur in Florida.

Plaintiffs Accuse Drug Makers of Not Sharing Information

In the fall of 2012, the European Medicines Agency required Bristol-Myers Squibb and Otsuka to add a warning as follows:

“Pathological gambling: Post-marketing reports of pathological gambling have been reported among patients prescribed Abilify, regardless of whether these patients had a prior history of gambling. Patients with a prior history of pathological gambling may be at increased risk and should be monitored carefully.”

In November 2015, Canadian researchers claimed there was “a link between the use of aripiprazole and a possible risk of pathological gambling or hypersexuality.”

The U.S. warnings finally included a mention of possible pathological gambling in January 2016, but then only to the post-marketing experience part of the label.

Among the questions that will be addressed in the Abilify MDL is whether or not the drug maker knew of the medication’s problems and whether or not full and proper warnings were given to patients and to their medical providers.

If you have taken Abilify and have suffered consequences from a subsequent lack of impulse control, you may benefit from an Abilify lawsuit. Talk to a lawyer about the possibility of obtaining compensation for your losses, monetary and otherwise, incurred as a result of taking Abilify.