Bristol Myers Squibb is facing an Abilify lawsuit filed by a man who claims that he suffered severe financial damages from the company’s antipyschotic Abilify.

More specifically, the Abilify lawsuit stated that the drug’s warning label did not indicate individuals were at potential risk for developing addictive behaviors such as  compulsive gambling.

Abilify (aripiprazole) is an atypical antipsychotic often prescribed to treat a variety of mental disorders, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. This drug works by helping manage dopamine, the primary neurotransmitter that is responsible for controlling the brain’s reward and pleasure centers.

By balancing the serotonin and dopamine levels, it will increase the patient’s mood and thinking. However, many believe that by triggering the dopamine levels, it can induce negative addictive behaviors. The plaintiff alleges that this mechanism directly contributed to his compulsive gambling addiction.

Abilify Lawsuit Allegations

Plaintiff Sean B. had been prescribed Abilify in 2004 and had reportedly started suffering from a compulsive gambling addiction, which only stopped when Sean stopped taking the drug a decade later.

The drug is also available in Europe and Canada, where the compulsive side effects of Abilify are listed on the drug’s warning label. Despite this, Bristol Myers Squibb Co. and Otsuka Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. did not warn American patients about the risk of compulsive gambling or other similar behaviors.

“Defendants had, or should have had, knowledge that Abilify can cause compulsive behaviors like gambling. Despite their significant collective resources, and signals that Abilify is associated with compulsive behaviors such as gambling, defendants have failed to fully and adequately test or research Abilify and its association with compulsive behaviors to the detriment of plaintiff, Abilify users, the public, the medical community and prescribing doctors,” Sean stated in his Abilify lawsuit.

According to his Abilify lawsuit, Sean had lost over $50,000 to gambling during the decade he was taking the drug. According to the FDA, Abilify injury reports from 2005 to 2013 showed at least 54 compulsive behaviors with 30 cases of compulsive gambling. In 2014, the FDA reportedly received 29 injury reports of gambling incidents.

However, in the fall of 2012, the European Medicines Agency had required Bristol Myers and Otsuka to warn patients against compulsive gambling as part of the side effects of Abilify. Following suit in November 2015, Canadian health officials found that the potential side effects of Abilify not only included compulsive gambling but hypersexuality.

According to his Abilify lawsuit, Sean stated that the companies deliberately concealed this side effect to protect the drug’s market value. Bristol Myers had reportedly made $417 million from Abilify in the United States in over three months by June 30, 2014, with worldwide revenues of $555 million at the same time.

Sean ultimately states that the drug company failed to protect him against the side effects of Abilify, and is suing Bristol Myers for negligence and certain consumer protection laws.

The Abilify lawsuit is Case No. 1:16-cv-00271 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.