Gynecomastia is the physical abnormality of breast development in boys and young men, which is allegedly caused by certain medications. The antipsychotic medications Risperdal and Invega have been reportedly causing young male patients to suffer from this condition.

While gynecomastia is not a life-threatening disease, patients are at risk of suffering extreme emotional damage and psychological distress. Some injury reports claim that in some cases the breasts grew as large as a D-cup, and that sometimes there was lactation or nipple discharge. Surgical intervention is often required to remove the excess breast tissue.

It is important to note that while gynecomastia can affect both breasts, it can sometimes just affect one or the two sides could be affected differently, like one growing larger than the other. Additionally, medical experts warn that patients may suffer lasting gynecomastia side effects like breast tenderness and pain, as well as the trauma of simply having breasts.

Young boys with gynecomastia are often teased and bullied due to obvious appearance differences between them and their peers, so treating this condition as soon as possible would be ideal. Medical experts warn that even if a child is not using Risperdal or Invega for a long period of time, he could still develop gynecomastia.

As of now, there is no official or proven reason why gynecomastia occurs in some patients compared to others, but scientists have agreed on a central hypothesis — both Risperdal and Invega are classified as prolactin-raising antipsychotics, due to the side effects of their biological mechanism.

Both drugs are unique in terms of a certain mechanism compared to other antispychotics because they only channel one brain chemical, rather than the entirety of the brain. This brain chemical they channel is called dopamine, which controls the brain’s pleasure and reward sensors.

A side effect of this mechanism is that it increases the production levels of prolactin, which is a hormone responsible for the growth and development of breasts in young girls and is released by the pituitary gland. Due to the fact that many of these young boys are in their adolescent stage of development, the potential for abnormal growth is increased dramatically.

Gynecomastia’s alleged correlation with Risperdal has been observed in several studies, including one published in a 2006 issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. This study stated that elevated prolactin levels occur in more than 90 percent of Risperdal users at some point during their treatment.

The scientists called this side effect Risperdal-induced hyperprolactinemia, which has been found to persist throughout Risperdal therapy and sometime after.

Invega has also been suspected of causing this gynecomastia side effect, but has not yet been observed in any extensive study.

Overview of Gynecomastia Legal Movement

Many patients who have suffered from gynecomastia after taking Invega or Risperdal have filed Risperdal lawsuits or Invega lawsuits against the drugs’ manufacturing company, Johnson & Johnson, for failing to protect them against their products’ gynecomastia side effects. With many of these young men being underage, they often are represented by an older family member or legal guardian and bring charges in their Risperdal lawsuits that include negligence, false advertising, concealing information, and misrepresenting a product.

As mentioned before, both Risperdal and Invega are manufactured by Johnson & Johnson and have been landing in hot water for the same side effect of gynecomastia. Risperdal is considerably older than Invega, having been originally approved in 1993 to treat adult patients with schizophrenia. This drug was later approved to treat children in 2006, and it was soon followed by the release of Invega on April 11, 2011.

While it remains to be seen if Invega will go down the same road as its predecessor, Risperdal, which has been the subject of hundreds of gynecomastia lawsuits to be filed against Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceuticals. As of now, approximately 420 Risperdal lawsuits are pending against Johnson & Johnson, with 140 of them alleging gynecomastia.