The holidays are over and as early as this month the Philadelphia-based Mass Tort Center at Pennsylvania’s First Judicial District has scheduled meetings of the parties involved in Risperdal litigation. In the meantime, the product liability attorneys at Reich & Binstock represent those whose injuries allegedly stemmed from the use of the antipsychotic.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration originally approved Risperdal in 1993.
The drug’s manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson-owned Janssen Pharmaceuticals, is the main defendant.
A long-form master complaint that plaintiffs filed in 2010 generally explains where Janssen allegedly went wrong and male Risperdal patients unfortunately were victimized by the onset of numerous conditions, including gynecomastia, which is the abnormal breast development in men.
Plaintiffs assert that under federal regulations, the manufacturer had a duty to “fully and accurately disclose information relating to” the adverse effects of Risperdal. Moreover, plaintiffs argue that the law forbids the manufacturer from representing the drug as safer than other antipsychotics on the market.
Plaintiffs claim the defendants violated the law “by omitting information concerning these risks” from Risperdal’s labeling and package insert and by “distributing promotional materials that were false and misleading in that they minimized the risks of these serious adverse events, failed to advise physicians to monitor patients for these adverse events, and otherwise falsely claimed that [Risperdal] was safer and more efficacious than other antipsychotic medications on the market.”
The long-form complaint alleged, in part, the following defendants’ conduct:
- Manipulating clinical trials to produce favorable results
- Failing to publish or report negative studies to the FDA or to publish the results in the medical literature
- Ghostwriting medical journal articles utilizing hired medical writers, who are not researchers or scientists, to write articles and then submitting them to selected opinion or “thought” leaders to attach their names to them as authors
- Presenting false and misleading studies and reports at professional meetings by means of posters and abstracts
- Publishing the same studies and/or selected portions of the same studies in multiple journals to create a false impression of scientific acceptability
- Failing to file accurate and timely reports with the FDA of adverse events and abnormal laboratory values seen in clinical trials
- Failing to publish accurate reports of adverse events and abnormal laboratory values in articles concerning clinical trials
Those allegations were the tip of the iceberg.
Anyone who has used Risperdal and has been diagnosed with gynecomastia would benefit from a free consultation with one of the product liability attorneys at Reich & Binstock.
For 30 years, Reich & Binstock, which operates in all 50 states, has skillfully represented victims of unreasonably risky products that caused injury. Its attorneys have the considerable expertise that a victim of a bad drug wants on his or her side.
It costs nothing to have a Reich & Binstock attorney analyze your situation and determine whether there is a viable case for a Risperdal lawsuit. Contact Reich & Binstock either at the toll-free number below or by submitting an electronic message through the form located on this web page.
