Dozens of Abilify suits have been consolidated in a single multidistrict litigation in a federal court in Florida, following an order by a federal judicial panel.

In October 2016, the federal Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ordered the consolidation of 42 separate Abilify lawsuits into a single Abilify suit multidistrict litigation, or MDL, to be overseen by U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers.

Plaintiffs in these claims say they suffered from compulsive behavior like gambling addiction or hypersexuality after taking the psychiatric drug Abilify.

The plaintiffs generally allege the drug’s manufacturer Bristol-Myers Squibb and its partner Otsuka Pharmaceutical Company failed to properly warn them about the risk of impulse-control problems associated with this drug.

According to the Abilify suit, they claim the defendants continued to promote Abilify as a safe and effective drug while downplaying the evidence of destructive side effects.

Anticipating that many more Abilify suits would be filed, the panel determined that consolidation would promote more efficient conduct of pretrial procedures and more consistent judicial decisions.

The federal court system sometimes combines similar claims into an MDL when many plaintiffs bring similar claims arising out of alleged problems with a product made by a particular defendant.

As new Abilify lawsuits are filed, they can either be filed directly into this MDL or transferred there from whichever federal court they are originally filed in.

Abilify Suit Accuses Bristol-Myers Squibb of Failing to Warn

One plaintiff in an Abilify suit alleges he gambled away tens of thousands of dollars because of Abilify side effects he says he wasn’t fully warned about.

The New Jersey man says he started gambling after he began to take Abilify in December 2010. When he stopped taking Abilify in August 2013, he claims, the urge to compulsively gamble went away. His enormous gambling debt remained, however.

How Abilify Works

Abilify, or aripiprazole, is used to keep certain emotional and behavioral symptoms under control. It has found application in cases of schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder and Tourette’s syndrome.

Originally approved for U.S. sales in 2002, Abilify has since generated billions of dollars in sales for its manufacturers.

Abilify works by operating on the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin, both of which can affect the sense of satisfaction a patient can get from certain behavior.

Scientists suspect that buy operating on these neurotransmitters, Abilify may throw the brain’s natural reward system out of whack, causing the patient to engage in destructive behavior in a quest for that sense of reward.

The link between Abilify and compulsive behavior was recognized by the FDA in a May 2016 communication. The agency said it had received reports that in certain rare cases, Abilify patients had found themselves suffering from uncontrollable urges to gamble, shop, overeat or have sex.

Gambling addiction was the Abilify complication most frequently reported to the FDA. Out of 184 cases reported to the FDA, 164 involved compulsive gambling, the agency said.

The Abilify Suit MDL is In re: Abilify (Aripiprazole) Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2734 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida.