Use of Abilify Can Lead to Destructive Compulsive Behavior

Abilify is an antipsychotic drug used to treat depression, but lawsuits claim that it can also cause compulsive and strange behavior. If you have used Abilify and subsequently developed problems with compulsive behavior or addiction, you should contact an attorney immediately.

Abilify Side Effects

Abilify (aripiprazole) works to treat psychotic conditions by changing the activity of dopamine, a neurotransmitter in your brain. It is also used to treat major depression in adults and agitation in children with autism. However, like most all drugs, there are some serious side effects linked to its use.

Studies show that older adults with dementia who take antipsychotic drugs like Abilify may be at an increased risk for death. Weight gain is also a typical side effect of Abilify. In addition, children, teenagers, and young adults who take Abilify for depression or more likely to become suicidal.

Most recently, Abilify has been linked to compulsive behavior side effects, such as:

• Pathological gambling
• Compulsive spending
• Compulsive or binge eating
• Hyper-sexuality

Compulsive behavior such as these can have a devastating impact on an individual’s life and can lead to substantial debt, lost savings, loss of employment, divorce, damage to one’s personal and professional reputation, and severe emotional trauma.

These compulsive behavior side effects have led to lawsuits alleging that the manufactures of Abilify did not properly warn patients and physicians of these serious side effects. There are reports that show that people taking Abilify and developing compulsive gambling habits. In all cases, the compulsive gambling behavior ceased when the patient stopped taking Abilify.

Abilify’s History

• Approved by the FDA in 2002, Abilify, which comes in many forms, including a tablet, liquid or an injection (including an extended-release injection), is manufactured by Bristol-Myers Squibb and the Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, and has consistently topped 5 billion dollars in yearly sales.

• A 2005 study published in the American Medical Association’s journal of internal medicine identified a potential signal for impulse control problems with Abilify, which could result in abnormal behavior such as gambling addiction, binge eating, or compulsive shopping.

• In 2012, the European Medicine Agency required that the drug’s manufacturers warn patients and doctors in Europe that use of Abilify may lead to pathological gambling,

• In 2015, Canadian regulators suggested a link between the use of aripiprazole and pathological gambling and identified an increased risk of gambling addiction and hyper-sexuality associated with the use of Abilify.

• In 2016, the FDA announces that a new warning would be added to the labels of Abilify and Abilify Maintena to warn potential users about compulsive or uncontrollable urges to gamble, shop, or have sex. The FDA also released a statement saying:

“These uncontrolled urges were reported to have stopped when the medicine was discontinued, or the dose was reduced. The impulse console problems are rare but may result in harm to the patient or others if not recognized”

Abilify Lawsuits

More than 2 dozen lawsuits alleging that Abilify caused gambling addiction and other compulsive behavior may soon be consolidated into a multidistrict litigation. A motion for transfer order was filed in June of 2016 in which the plaintiffs and Abilify’s lawyers agreed that centralization before one federal judge would benefit all parties.

A clear link has been established between the use of the Abilify and compulsive gambling, shopping and binge eating. Dozens of cases of compulsive behavior in patients treated with Abilify have been reported in medical literature and in each case the patient’s symptoms improved after use of the drug was discontinued.

Drug companies have a responsibility to notify the public when a drug may cause harmful side effects. The label for Abilify fails to mention anything about compulsive behaviors and many patients only found out that there was a risk when it happened to them and they suffered as a result.

Contact an Experienced Pharmaceutical Drug Lawyer

If you or someone you know has suffered from the development of a destructive compulsive behavior after using Abilify, contact an experienced pharmaceutical drug lawyer today. Lawyers are handling individual litigation nationwide and are currently accepting new Abilify compulsive behavior case in all fifty states.