A man filed an Abilify compulsive gambling lawsuit against the manufacturers of the drug, joining a growing multidistrict litigation (MDL) against the company.

Plaintiff Francis P. filed the Abilify compulsive gambling lawsuit in Florida federal court.

According to the Abilify compulsive gambling lawsuit, Francis, a resident of the state of Arizona, says that he began taking Abilify in December 2013 and continued to take the medication until June 2016. However, Francis says that he suffered an insurmountable amount of losses as a result of Abilify usage.

According to the Abilify compulsive gambling lawsuit, Francis suffered emotional distress, loss of financial stability, and financial loss in excess of $10,000 as a result of compulsive gambling as well as neuropsychiatric and physical injury caused by the drug.

The Abilify compulsive gambling lawsuit was filed on multiple counts including strict liability, breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty, negligence, negligence per se, negligent misrepresentation, violation of consumer protection laws, fraudulent concealment, and punitive damages.

Overview: Abilify

Abilify is an antipsychotic medication that acts to change chemical interactions in the brain. It is prescribed for the treatment of conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder.

However, allegations against the manufacturers of Abilify claim that they failed to warn doctors and patients that the drug may cause a variety of compulsive behaviors, such as the compulsion to shop, eat, gamble, and have sex.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Abilify in 2002. Warnings of compulsive behaviors were only added to the drug in May 2016. This added warning level was spearheaded by the FDA only after they received roughly 200 compulsive behavior cases.

According to the statement released by the FDA, “although pathological gambling is listed as a reported side effect in the current aripiprazole drug labels, this description does not entirely reflect the nature of the impulse-control risk FDA identified.”

Additionally, the FDA states that they had become “aware of other compulsive behaviors associated with aripiprazole, such as compulsive eating, shopping, and sexual actions.”

Although researchers are not quite sure just how Abilify causes compulsive behavior side effects, they believe that it has something to do with the drug’s effects on the brain’s dopamine pathway.

Scientific studies have shown that drugs like Abilify affect our brain’s dopamine pathways and this affect influences reward-seeking behavior.

Health Canada, a department of the government of Canada with responsibility for national public health, issued a review describing the link they found between Abilify and compulsive behaviors. In a Summary Safety Review, they department affirmed that substantial evidence found the link associated “between the use of aripiprazole and a possible risk of pathological gambling or hypersexuality.”

The published Safety Review pointed to the “extensive use of Abilify” and “totality of the evidence” as reasons for updating Canada’s prescription information for Abilify.

The Abilify Compulsive Gambling Lawsuit is Case No. 3:18-cv-00436-MCR-GRJ, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Pensacola Division. The Abilfy MDL, is in re: Abilify (Aripiprazole) Products Liability Litigation, MDL No 3:16-md-2734, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Pensacola Division.