A meeting is scheduled for Jan. 12, 2015 for the ongoing Risperdal litigation over gynecomastia, or “man boobs.”

Risperdal is an anti-psychotic, designed to help schizophrenics control their illness. Like many drugs targeting the human brain, it has been discovered that Risperdal can also treat bipolar disorder and aggression/irritability associated with autism.

However, Risperdal lawsuits have been filed, alleging that the drug can cause serious Risperdal side effects, including gynecomastia.

Gynecomastia is a medical condition in which men grow female-like breasts. It is generally caused by a hormone imbalance. Specifically, when a male has an excessive level of progestin, the hormone that usually promotes breast growth in females, he may develop breasts. Some drugs may increase the level of progestin in the body, allegedly including Risperdal.

Allegations that Risperdal may cause gynecomastia have resulted in hundreds of Risperdal lawsuits against the makers of the drug. So many Risperdal gynecomastia lawsuits have been filed that the legal system has created a multidistrict litigation, or MDL.

MDLs are a type of coordinated legal action that helps tens, hundreds, or even thousands of similar lawsuits work their way through the legal system, similar to a class action lawsuit. In most MDLs, the individual cases often hinge on similar evidence and make similar arguments to allege that they have suffered similar harms at the hands of the same individuals. More than 1,130 individual Risperdal lawsuits have been coordinated together into a single MDL in a Pennsylvania state court.

According to documents posted to the court’s website, a status conference will be held on Jan. 12, at 2:00 p.m. Meetings like this are critical to MDLs, to help coordinate the individual Risperdal lawsuits. Meetings like this can help coordinate evidence, expert testimony which applies to all cases in the Risperdal MDL.

The various individual Risperdal lawsuits within the larger Risperdal MDL make many similar allegations. First and foremost, most Risperdal lawsuits cite various scientific studies suggesting Risperdal can cause gynecomastia.

The Risperdal lawsuits further allege that the makers of Risperdal knew or reasonably should have known — based on mandated postmarket surveillance and published research studies — that Risperdal could cause gynecomastia.

On top of this, Risperdal lawsuits further allege that the makers of the drug continued to aggressively promoteRisperdal, even illegally promoting the drug in spite of the danger. Under federal law, a drug maker can only promote a drug for the purposes it is approved for.

It is always possible to apply for additional U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approvals, and doctors sometimes prescribe drugs for non-FDA approved purposes based on new research, but it is strictly forbidden for a drug-maker to promote a drug beyond its FDA approval, called “off-label usage.”