Pfizer Sued Over Pill For Sex & Gambling Addictions
12 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // June 4th, 2010 // 8:04 am
More than 100 people who claim they developed gambling and pornography habits after taking drugs used to treat tremors caused by Parkinson’s disease have filed a class-action lawsuitin Australia against Pfizer as well as Aspen Pharmacare, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Some of the plaintiffs claim they lost hundreds of thousands of dollars and suffered family breakdowns thanks to the compulsive behavior allegedly linked to the pills. Most developed gambling addictions but a few exhibited compulsive sexual behaviour such as looking at pornography on the Internet, the paper continues. The lawsuit claims Pfizer, which sold Cabaser, and Aspen, which sold Permax, failed to provide adequate warnings of increased risk of compulsive disorders.
This is by no means the first time such litigation has been prompted by a class of pills known as dopamine agonists, which cause a rush and have been linked to risky behavior. In 2008, a jury in Minnesota awarded $8.2 million to a man who became a compulsive gambler after using Mirapex, which is sold by Boehringer Ingelheim, to treat Parkinson’s disease (background).
Last month, by the way, a study published in the Archives of Neurology found that dopamine agonist treatment for Parkinson’s disease was associated with increasing the odds of developing an impulse control disorder – such as gambling, binge eating and compulsive shoping – by two to 3.5 times (here is the abstract).
DCInsider
Based on the headline, am I the only one that thought this was a story about a pill to cure sex and gambling addictions?
patrons99
Insider – no such luck. It’s probably really a pill to provide an excuse for sex and gambling addictions! Some compulsions are probably a lot of fun…so I’m told. Some well-known celebrities come to mind. :-)
scully
Not funny. Based on the pharmacology of Mirapex and my clinical experience, I find these patients claims credible and worth looking into. Mirapex is used as an add-on in Parkinson’s, which is notoriously difficult to manage and extremely disabling to the patient. Over time, drug regimens become increasingly complex due to a variety of well known pharmacokinetic & metabolic factors. The decision to add Mirapex, in my experience, is not made lightly; it’s a very unpredictable agent. Parkinson’s patients have an unimaginablely difficul life and are at the mercy of just about everything. Yes, that’s what a very sad, disappointed, hopeless person who feels cheated out of life needs, a gambling compulsion.
patrons99
Scully – point well-taken! I couldn’t resist the opportunity to poke fun at some of the many celebrities who have “fallen from grace” for their compulsive behaviors.
PD is most definitely a serious and very real disease for which we should all have compassion. More effective and safer PD treatments are needed. To the extent that Mirapex and Requip add quality of life and survival benefit to PD patients, they are both valuable contributions by Pharma to the public health.
I have a problem, however, with using Mirapex or Requip to treat RLS. I’m not convinced that their benefit in treatment of RLS outweighs their risk. The etiology and natural history of RLS is not well understood. As an RLS sufferer (mild symptoms), I would NOT be willing to try either of these meds on myself. Hence, I would not prescribe them to a patient, unless they made an informed request to try them for this indication.
This comment is solely opinion, and should not be considered to be medical advice.
patrons99
Here are some links to Permax that may be of interest.
http://www.drugs.com/pro/permax.html
“Permax is indicated as adjunctive treatment to levodopa/carbidopa in the management of the signs and symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
http://www.drugwatch.com/permax/
“The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a recall on Permax and all generic forms of peroglide on March 29, 2007. Studies indicated heart valve disease (valvulopathy) occurred in approximately one-fourth of all Parkinson’s disease patients taking the drug over an extended period of time. Permax valvulopathy had come to the FDA’s attention in 2002, and a Black Box warning alerted consumers to the risk.”
I make no representations as to the completeness, timeliness, or accuracy of the information in these links.
The Real Mr. Experience
All of you are too buried in academia to note that these are two great addictions. Sex is great and life is always a gamble. Lighten up guys!
pharmavet
Patrons et al. I’ve done volunteer work for a number of years at an outpatient treatment facility for substance abuse patients. With many of these folks that are in denial, if you interrogate them long enough and hard enough you will find that many of them exhibit compulsive behaviors in multiple areas. Hate to use the term but I would “bet” that many of these litigious people exhibited some type of addictive behavior in the past. Know that cross-addictions run strongly in these folks. Thus someone who might have show compulsive gambling, for example on the drugs in question may have never set foot in a casino, but if you interview them thoroughly enough they might tell you that they had/have a problem with substances, sexual behavior, etc.
Neil D
I think “free will” just died.
The Real Deal
Neil D
So did “practicality”!!!! Will Rogers had better and more sensible things to say. This web is nerd central,aka academics. Forgive me for yawning. I appear to be the only one who speaks English “and loving it” (from Get Smart)?
pharmavet
You have to think like a gambler in this situation. If you go back to the casino and win back all of your losses, the IRS will allow you to deduct all losses up to the amount of your winnings on your 1040. Of course if you keep losing, then you can just blame it on the drug, score a legal payday and get your money back that way. Seems to me to be a win-win situation.
mike adrian
I have taken MIRAPEX for several years for resless leg. About year ago i started gambling.
I stoled money from my place of employment.
Last March 1, 2010 I told the police it was I who took the money.
Ilost my job, and will have to appear in court
with a felany hanging over my head.
Can you give me help because of the power of MIRAPEX OVER ME.
Any help or suggestions would be appreachied.
thanks
mike adrian
Kate Sommerville
Pharmavet, the point is that dopamine is implicated in compulsive behaviours and addictions and these drugs (dopamine agonists) stimulate the production of dopamine.
Permax and Cabaser, the drugs in question, precipitate compulsive behaviours such as gambling in vulnerable individuals. People would have been blind sided. Not one of them would have known that the prescribed drug they were taking for genuine medical reasons was causing gambling and other compulsive behaviours.
It doesn’t matter at all that people may have had prior addictions (not many did in some cohorts). The point is, that the dopamine agonists would have plunged them into something against which they had no defenses.
There is plenty of medical opinion which supports this.