The drug Abilify has led to many class action lawsuits from people claiming the drug caused compulsive behavior. But is there actually a connection between Abilify and gambling or other destructive behaviors? Click here to find out.
If you are taking or have been recommended to take Abilify, read this first. Abilify has been involved in several class action lawsuits, regarding the connection between Abilify and gambling.
The drug is meant to mitigate patients symptoms, such as hallucination and violent outbursts, by stabilizing the chemical deficiencies is one’s brain.
Unfortunately, side effects include compulsive gambling, binge eating, and hypersexuality.
Let’s take a look.
Connection Between Abilify and Gambling
The FDA, in May 2016, released a Safety Announcement concerning the link between Abilify and several compulsive behaviors.
The FDA concluded that the extent to which Abilify is connected to gambling addiction is much more substantial than the medications labeling and marketing let on. In the safety release, the FDA warns that users of Aripiprazole risk, “uncontrollable and excessive urges and behaviors”.
These urges and behaviors include eating, shopping, gambling, and sexual actions. It urges healthcare professionals to be especially aware of these risks in patients that have, or have the hereditary predisposition to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), bipolar disorder, alcoholism, and history of addiction.
Abilify is unique in the way it interacts with a users’ dopamine and serotonin receptors, in that, it will, both, stimulate production and block the receptors at different times. No other antipsychotic drug on the market works in the brain like Abilify does.
And, that is the problem.
By blocking your brain’s pleasure receptors one minute, and producing pleasure chemicals the next, how can the brain come to a natural, self-sustaining balance?
Whatever the chemical rationale behind it, one thing is clear: there is a strong connection between Abilify and gambling.
Abilify Class Action Lawsuit
The addictive gambling risks associated with Abilify were recognized, three years before the FDA spoke out, by a team of French medical team. In a 2013 case study, the Pharmacology Department from Nantes University established a correlation between Aripiprazole and pathological gambling in eight cases.
In 2016, the parent company of Abilify, Bristol-Myers Squibb, paid a $19.5 million settlement to the U.S. Justice Department. The company was accused of unlawful marketing in regards to the risks and side effects.
This summer, on June 18th, the company will appear before a Florida federal court, to contend with a class action lawsuit of over 700 claims. The lawsuit aims to compensate plaintiffs for gambling losses, economic loss, neuropsychiatric and physical injury, emotional distress, and more.
The current Abilify class-action lawsuit argues the company knew about the compulsory side effects of Abilify as far back as 2002. Yet, the drug did not include any warning of such, until 2016.
Bristol-Myers Squibb is no stranger to lawsuits. In 2007, the company paid over $515 million in settlement to the U.S. Government. The lawsuit claimed that the companies marketing techniques were illegal, in bribing physicians to prescribe, and pharmacies to fill prescriptions of Abilify.
If you have been negatively affected by the prescription drug Abilify, it is not too late to qualify for a settlement. If you live in or around Irving Texas, read more about how to find help for Abilify injury lawsuits.
How Abilify Works
Abilify, or Aripiprazole, is a second-generation antipsychotic (SGA). First generation antipsychotics (FGAs) target and block dopamine receptors. SGAs target, both, dopamine and serotonin receptors.
Second-generation antipsychotics are what is referred to when the term “tranquilizers” is used in a clinical setting. The patients’ dopamine and serotonin receptors are blocked by the tranquilizer and are effective at treating erratic symptoms of schizophrenia, autism, Tourette’s, and other disorders.
Unlike other atypical antipsychotics, Aripiprazole can, both, limit or produce dopamine and serotonin. All other FDA regulated atypical antipsychotics work, only, to block these receptors.
Aripiprazole is unique, in that it works to activate and limit dopamine and serotonin production, whereas other medications simply block production. This trait contributes to the drugs ability to enable patients compulsive tendencies.
It is also worth noting that the scientific and medical community are engaged in a debate, as to whether second-generation antipsychotics should be so broadly and unilaterally categorized. The reason, being that each SGA has its own unique side-effects and process.
Abilify Black Box Warning
If a product carries an abnormal health hazard, the FDA can mandate a “Black Box Warning.” This warning is a mandatory message from the FDA that must be featured on the product. Abilify carries two black box warnings.
The first Abilify black box warning says that Abilify should not be taken by the elderly with a history of dementia. Doing so leads to an increased risk of death in the user.
The second, warns of an increased risk of suicidal thinking and tendencies in children and young adults.
Abilify and Gambling – Final Thoughts
If you have been negatively affected by the compulsive side effects of taking Abilify, sign up to get your case reviewed for inclusion in the upcoming Abilify Lawsuit.
Treatment for gambling compulsion and addiction is best performed at a rehabilitation center. Choosing the best rehab center requires a decision between in-patient or out-patient rehab.
In-patient rehab is the most effective method of treatment and can involve a holistic approach. Holistic addiction treatment provides tools and techniques for dealing with an addiction, without the use of pharmaceutical drugs.
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