Mirapex has been associated with compulsive behavior, including gambling addiction

Submit your Mirapex case for a Free Case Evaluation or call 314-662-2836, and one of our experienced attorneys from a national law firm will evaluate your case.

Mirapex – also known as pramipexole -, which is used to treat Parkinson’s Disease and restless leg syndrome, has been associated with compulsive behavior, including gambling addiction.  If you or someone you know developed a gambling addiction or some other compulsive behavior after starting treatment with this drug, contact one of our Mirapex side effect attorneys.

Mirapex Breaking News

Mirapex Victim Awarded $8.2 Million in First Gambling Addiction Lawsuit

The first Mirapex lawsuit to go to trail has resulted in an $8.2 million
award to the plaintiff, Mealey’s Emerging Drugs & Devices is reporting. The lawsuit was the first of more than 300 to go to trail in the Mirapex multidistrict litigation in the US District Court in Minneapolis that blame the Parkinson’s Disease drug for causing compulsive gambling. It was considered a bellweather case, and was being watched by many to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of the other Mirapex lawsuits.

Gary Charbonneau, who began taking Mirapex in December 1997, said he suffered from a gambling addiction from March 2002 to February 2006. In that period of time, he gambled away $260,000.  Charbonneau’s lawsuit not only claimed that Mirapex caused his gambling problem, but that the drug’s makers, Pfizer and Boehringer Ingelheim, knew about its potential to cause compulsive behavior, but did not issue any warnings, or take steps to investigate the true scope of the problem.

Mirapex Information

Mirapex is a dopamine agonist. This means it stimulates nerves in the brain which are normally stimulated by dopamine, a brain chemical that helps control motor functions and movement. Mirapex is the most commonly prescribed drug in its class.

Mirapex was approved by the FDA in 1997 and by the end of 2004 accounted for almost 18 percent of prescriptions written to treat Parkinson’s disease.  Since its approval, hundreds of Mirapex users have claimed that they developed compulsive behaviors.

In addition to gambling addictions, people treated with Mirapex have suffered from compulsive shopping, sexual addictions, eating disorders, and other impulse control disorders.  In almost case, the victims of Mirapex side effects had no prior history of obsessive compulsive behaviors.  And in most cases, the compulsive behavior subsides once Mirapex is discontinued.

Mirapex has long been suspected of causing compulsive behavior.  The suspicion was bolstered in June, when researchers investigating the link between dopamine agonists and compulsive behavior presented their findings at  International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders conference in Chicago.  The study, which looked at more than 3,000 patients from 46 medical centers in the United States and Canada, found that Parkinson’s patients on dopamine agonists are nearly three times more likely to have at least one impulse-control disorder – including gambling addiction – compared with patients receiving other treatments.

Mirapex Label Change

Due to these reports, the Mirapex package insert was changed to state adverse events including “accidents (including fall), compulsive behaviors (sexual and pathological gambling), fatigue, hallucinations (all kinds), headache, hypotension, libido disorder, syncope, and blackouts.”Furthermore, a 2003 report in the journal “Neurology” covered the work of researchers at the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Research Center in Arizona. They surveyed 1,800 Parkinson’s patients over a one year period and determined that of the 529 patients in the study who took Mirapex, eight developed gambling addictions.  Since Mirapex is prescribed to millions of patients, this means that thousands of users may be experiencing these compulsions.

Accutane IBD Attorney

Submit your Accutane case for a Free Case Evaluation or call 314-662-2836, and one of our experienced attorneys from a national law firm will evaluate your case.  We are presently investigating and filing our Accutane cases.

On June 26, 2009 Roche Holding AG, the manufacturer of Accutane, recalled their popular cancer and acne medication Accutane after stating that that they have awarded over $33 million in lawsuits directly related to bowel disease claims.

Accutane recent news:

Roche Ordered to Pay $25 Million to Accutane User

Accutane Injury Results in $10.5 Million Judgment

Accutane Side Effects

Our national firm is currently accepting the following types of Accutane injury cases:

- Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)
- Premature Closure of Growth Plates
- Birth Defects
- Ulcerative Colitis
- Crohn’s Disease

The lawyers and attorneys at our firm are currently offering free evaluations to people suffering from Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) as a result of the drug Accutane.

IBD is an extremely painful and debilitating condition that often requires the removal of the colon. The Accutane injury attorneys at our firm know how devastating a diagnosis of IBD is, and we will work hard to make sure that Hoffman-La Roche, the maker of this defective drug, is held accountable for its serious side effects.Victims of IBD will often need medical care for the rest of their lives, and can face staggering medical bills. Because of the chronic pain and debilitating diarrhea that typically accompanies IBD, many victims are unable to work. Our Accutane injury lawyers will do everything in their power to help victims of this dangerous drug get their lives back on track.

Accutane – known generically as Isotretinoin – is a medication used for the treatment of severe acne. Accutane helps those who have acne by decreasing the amount of oil produced by the sebaceous glands and increasing the skin renewal rate. It is a retinoid, meaning it derives from vitamin A and is found in small quantities naturally in the body. Vitamin A in large quantities is known to be toxic to the body.

Accutane is normally reserved for patients whose acne has not responded to other forms of treatment, such as antibiotics.

Accutane is meant for only the most severe forms of acne, but sometimes, doctors do prescribe it to treat more moderate forms of the condition. This is unfortunate, because Accutane is known to carry serious side effects.

Approved by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in 1982, Accutane has been the subject of controversy for years. In addition to IBD, the drug has been associated with many other problems. It first garnered attention in the late eighties for causing severe birth defects. It has also been known to cause psychiatric problems, and has been linked to hundreds of suicides in the United States.

The researchers of the study found that out of 85 cases reported between 1997 and 2002 to the FDA, 62 cases were deemed “highly probable” or “probable” for Accutane as the cause of IBD. These injuries include ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, which require life-long therapy, often necessitating surgical intervention.

Yaz Birth Control Side Effects are linked to Stroke, Blood
Clots, Heart Attacks, gall bladder injury and other life-threatening side effects

Submit your Yaz/Yasmin case for a Free Case Evaluation or call 314-662-2836, and one of our experienced attorneys from a national law firm will evaluate your case.

We will file your Yaz/Yasmin case individually, not as part of a class action: We represent each women suffering from Yaz on 100% contingency basis which means that there are never any legal fees until we settle your case. We will file your case individually, not as a class action.

Yaz/Yasmin Information

The use of the birth control Yaz/Yasmin has been associated with serious side effects, which include pulmonary embolism, stroke, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), heart attack, and even death.

Since 2004, at least 50 deaths have been reported in women taking Yasmin and similar contraceptives. Some of these women were as young as 17.

A key ingredient in these drugs can raise blood potassium levels and cause:
Heart attack
Stroke
Gallbladder disease
Kidney disease
Pulmonary embolism
Deep vein thrombosis
Venous Thromboembolism (VTE)
Liver tumors
Death

Yasmin and Yaz are birth control pills manufactured by Bayer Healthcare. The generic brand Ocella is marketed and distributed by Barr Laboratories, Inc. They are combination oral contraceptives [COCs], meaning that like most birth control pills, they contain an estrogenic component and a progestational component. These steroidal components work together in COCs to suppress ovulation, fertilization and implantation and thus prevent pregnancy.

Yasmin and Yaz: Birth Control Pills with a “Fourth Generation” Progestin
While Yasmin and Yaz contain the same estrogenic compound, ethinyl estradiol that has been used in the lower dose Pill, or COCs, for decades, the progestin in Yasmin and Yaz is unique. Yasmin and Yaz both contain drospirenone, a “fourth generation” progestin. No other birth control pills contain drospirenone, except for a recently approved generic version of Yasmin and Yaz, marketed by Teva under the trade name Ocella. In addition, a newly approved hormonal product for menopause called Angeliq contains drospirenone.

Because drospirenone is new, there are not decades of data available to support its safe use as there are with the second generation progestins. Studies which were done before FDA approval, however, indicate that drospirenone has certain effects that are different than those of traditional second generation progestins and potentially more dangerous. Specifically, drospirenone causes an increase in potassium levels in the blood, which can lead to a condition known as hyperkalemia if the potassium levels become too high. Hyperkalemia can cause heart rhythm disturbances, such as extrasystolies, pauses or bradycardia.

If left untreated, hyperkalemia can be fatal. In particular, if hyperkalemia disrupts the normal heart rhythms, the flow of the blood through the heart can be slowed to the point that it permits blood clots to form. Blood clots in the heart can then lead to heart attacks, or break off and travel to the lungs where they can cause pulmonary embolus, or travel to the brain causing stroke.

Yaz/Yasmin links:

According to a new study published in the British Medical Journal, Yaz and Yasmin, carry a higher risk of blood clots compared with others birth control bills. New York Times (9/25/09): “Health Concerns Over Popular Contraceptives.”

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is requiring Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals to run ads correcting claims about a popular birth control pill. Federal health officials said previous ads overstated the ability of the birth control pill Yaz to cure acne or reduce premenstrual mood swings and played down potential health risks,” The New York Times reported this year. New York Times (2/9/09): “A Birth Control Pill That Promised Too Much.”

The FDA warning letter regarding Yaz/Yasmin