Abilify Gambling & Compulsive Behavior Lawsuit

We are no longer accepting new Abilify cases

The product liability attorneys at Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman are currently reviewing and accepting potential Abilify gambling cases throughout the United States. If you were prescribed Abilify and suffered serious financial loss as a result of compulsive gambling, you may be entitled to compensation through an Abilify gambling lawsuit.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an Abilify warning, affirming that use of the drug has been associated with impulse control problems, such as gambling, hyperactive sexuality and compulsive shopping. These impulse control issues reportedly stopped when individuals ceased taking Abilify.

One particular Abilify side effect—gambling addiction—can have a devastating impact on your family, your career and your quality of life. Abilify gambling issues have affected a number of individuals who were unaware that research has linked the drug to compulsive or uncontrollable gambling urges.

Read Abilify Gambling Updates

Our firm believes that Bristol-Myers Squibb and Otsuka Pharmaceutical Company, the manufacturers of Abilify, failed to adequately warn consumers about the potential risk/side effect of compulsive gambling. As such, financial compensation may be available to those who suffered financial damages as a result of compulsive gambling while taking Abilify.

Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman is offering free, no obligation Abilify case evaluations for individuals across the nation to determine what legal options are available to them and their families. If you are interested in speaking with a product liability attorney about filing an Abilify gambling lawsuit, fill out the form below or call us toll free at (855) 948-5098.

We are here to help and can answer any questions you have related to your Abilify gambling claim. While Abilify has been linked to a number of other compulsive behaviors, our firm is only accepting cases related to Abilify gambling issues.

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How Does Abilify Work?

This question is difficult to answer because the FDA—which is responsible for assuring the safety, efficacy and security of the drugs we take—says it is “unknown” exactly how Abilify works.

PLOS Medicine critiqued advertising for Abilify, which at one point claimed that the drug works “like a thermostat to restore balance.” The drugmakers widely disseminated this ad campaign to consumers, even though the FDA-approved product information insert for Abilify lists the mechanism of action for aripiprazole as “unknown.”

According to PLOS, this type of advertising “is only possible in the absence of vigorous government regulation or outcry from professional associations. We hypothesize that their combined silence significantly contributes to the process of disease mongering.”

Otsuka America, the company that markets Abilify in the U.S., pointed to two six-week studies to demonstrate that Abilify works better than a placebo in treating major depressive disorder. The problem is that these studies fail to explain how it is that the drug works, only that it works better than a placebo.

It is believed that Abilify (aripiprazole) acts as a ‘partial agonist’ at the serotonin and dopamine receptors, which regulate mood and behavior. Unlike other drugs in the second generation antipsychotics (SAG) class, Abilify does not block dopamine or serotonin receptors. Rather, the drug is supposed to serve two purposes: it can enhance dopamine and serotonin signaling where those transmitters are deficient and it can also inhibit signaling where they are in excess.

When a person’s dopamine system is stimulated, they feel pleasure or a high. This reward system ensures that we continue to do things necessary for survival, like eating, for example. But certain people can have excessively stimulated or blunted dopamine systems. This dysregulation is implicated in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression and ADD.

Abilify Gambling

Joanna Moncrieff, a leading British psychiatrist and author, has argued that antipsychotics like Abilify (aripiprazole) do not actually treat anything—they just zone people out so their awareness is dull. They can be effective for some, but that is essentially because they are powerful tranquilizers.

This appears to be at the heart of the Abilify gambling issue: researchers think Abilify may overstimulate dopamine receptors for some people, triggering compulsive behavior like gambling, hyperactive sexuality and compulsive shopping.

This compulsion can be uncontrollable, driving some people with no prior history of gambling to do so by any means necessary, even when they can no longer afford it. A number of documented cases include people funding their gambling addiction via credit cards or borrowed money. Other severe Abilify gambling cases include individuals who felt they needed to gamble in order to continue living.

This particular Abilify side effect may not result in physical harm to a person, but it can cause serious financial, emotional and psychological problems that tear lives apart.

Those whose lives have been turned upside down due to crippling gambling debt after taking Abilify may have the option of filing an Abilify lawsuit against Bristol-Myers Squibb and Otsuka Pharmaceutical Company, in order to seek compensation.