A new Abilify pathological gambling lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Pensacola Division on March 19, 2018.

The plaintiff, Staci E., wants to hold Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., and Otsuka America Pharmaceutical Inc. liable for compulsive behaviors she was driven to do while taking the antipsychotic drug such as Abilify pathological gambling.

Because of these behaviors, she supposedly suffered bodily injury and experienced pain, mental anguish, and a downturn in her enjoyment of life. Staci also purportedly incurred a grave amount of economic loss during her treatment because of Abilify pathological gambling and additional needed medical treatment.

Staci is a citizen and resident of the tate of Oklahoma in which she was prescribed and took Abilify between between 2013 and 2017. In her lawsuit, she filed the following causes of action from the master long-form Abilify products liability litigation—a multidistrict litigation (MDL) consolidating related Abilify pathological gambling complaints:

Strict Liability; Breach of Express and Implied Warranty; Negligence and Negligence Per Se; Negligent Misrepresentation, Violation of Oklahoma Consumer Protection Laws; Fraudulent Concealment, and Punitive Damages.

Staci is asking for a trial by jury with an award made on her behalf that includes actual damages secondary to buying and taking Abilify, costs of physical injury treatment, and consideration for her mental and emotional suffering and financial setbacks.

She also requests the addition of all litigation costs to her award such as attorney and court fees and prejudgment and post-judgment interest.

Finally, Staci is asking for punitive damages to be assessed against the defendants as part of her Abilify pathological gambling lawsuit for their alleged disregard of patient and public welfare through recklessness and purported malicious, intentional, and knowing omissions and conduct.

Abilify Marketing History

In the fall of 2002, Abilify was approved for commercial release in the U.S. Ten years later in October 2012, the European drug oversight agency known as the European Medicines Agency (EMA) required a change in its labeling by adding information to the special warnings section about Abilify pathological gambling. This label change referred to post-market reports of patients being driven to this behavior whether or not they had a prior inclination towards gambling.

Three years later, the Canadian equivalent agency had a similar warning added to prescriptive information for Abilify. Despite these labeling changes abroad, plaintiffs claim that no move was made by the defendants to warn U.S. consumers of the alleged connection between the drug and compulsive gambling behavior until January 2016.

Even then, mention of these experiences was added only to the post-marketing experience section of the label—an area least likely to be viewed by medical professionals and patients alike, plaintiffs claim.

Finally, in May 2016, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent out a safety warning that alerted doctors and patients about the antipsychotic’s possible association with compulsive drives to engage in sex, overeat, shop, or gamble.

The product liability MDL addresses the issue of the defendants’ apparent lack of concern for the safety and well-being of patients and the public with this delay.

The Abilify Pathological Gambling Lawsuit is Case No. 3:18-cv-00437-MCR-GRJ, in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Pensacola Division.