A Glaxo Drug Turned Him Into A ‘Gay Sex Addict’
12 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // January 31st, 2011 // 2:55 pm
A 51-year-old father of two children plans to file a lawsuit in a French court tomorrow because the GlaxoSmithKline drug he took to treat his Parkinson’s disease caused him to develop impulse control disorders. Specifically, he became hooked on gay sex and gambling. The med in question is Requip, which is known to cause compulsive behaviors (see this).
But lawyers for Didier Jambart tell Agence France Presse that he began taken Requip in 2003 and stopped two years later, but that an appropriate warning did not appear on the package insert until 2006. By then, he had attempted suicide three times, allegedly became addicted to Internet gambling, lost his family savings, and stole to feed his habit. He also exposed himself on the Internet and took to cross-dressing. And finally, at least one sexual encounter ended in rape. There was no mention of his sexual habits previously, though.
By the time Jambert gave up Requip, his lawyers says he had been demoted in his defense ministry job - his responsibilities were not mentioned - and he suffered from psychological trauma due to his addictions. What does he want? about $610,000 in damages from Glaxo, which he accuses of selling a “defective” drug, and from his neurologist for having failed to properly inform him about the drug. Glaxo declined to comment.
Pharm Aid
So now, Requip turns you gay? Hold on while I look up the definition of “frivolous lawsuit.”
Salient point
Well the gambling part may be legit, inasmuch as there was noise about this problem around the time of the label change.
As for the other stuff–don’t know how the French legal system works, but in the US, if you’re going to litigate over things like suicide attempts, stealing & rape, you’d better be ready for some very awkward Q&A with defendant’s counsel on the cross, in both deposition & trial.
industry insider
Sounds like his legs weren’t his only part of his anatomy that was restless.
Salient point
II-Appreciate the humor but the guy has Parkinson’s. The litigation may be frivolous, but his condition isn’t.
yo
Calling Gaydar! Will Requip make a person who is gay more gay? Requip plus Viagra, a great new drug cocktail (no pun intended) until something untoward occurs and then it’s time to sue. Frivolous! Question, where was this guy’s doctor? It is well known that patients being treated for PD can have pychiatric problems due to a combination of their disease and their treatment. This guy should be suing his doctor.
Salient point
Yo-This says that he is suing his doctor too.
Guys, I know this is salacious & fun but please–read the post.
yo
Sorry, missed it.
industry insider
I have a cure for this guy–deep brain electrode implantation in the basal ganglia, followed by aversive conditioning stimuli. These were experiments “successfully” performed by the late Dr. Robert Heath, Chairman of the Dept of Psychiatry at Tulane. Show the guy some gay porn, then turn up the current till his dopaminergic neurons are french fried. Works better than any antidopaminergic drug ever did, and the cure is permanent.
Dr. Heath got a bad rep for trying to “cure” homosexuality, but can’t argue with his results.
yo
Salient point makes an excellent point this poor man has Parkinson’s disease which is a devastating disease to the person and the family. It is not to be made light of.
I think people are making light of suing the drug company because in today’s social realm if something is bothering you you take a pill, not suck down a beer or two and complain to you buds. And then if you do something stupid you blame the pill and sue. This scenerio is not true, of course, with a real disease such as Parkinson’s.
industry insider
Ed, in response to your album photo, I suggest the David Hasselhoff You Tube video of “Hooked on a Feeling”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOofy2cL9VM
industry insider
There are several non dopamine agonists for treatment of Parkinson’s. It’s not like there were no pharmacological alternatives that could have been used once the compulsive behavior came out.
Salient point
II-Very true. L-dopa is not perfect, but very effective & not associated with this kind of problem.
It’s fairly depressing, though, that a 30+ year old product remains arguably the best treatment for this disease.