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Man takes legal action over Parkinson’s drug gambling link
Man takes legal action over Parkinson’s drug gambling link
The manufacturer of a drug used in treating Parkinson’s disease is named in a class action suit alleging it causes compulsive gambling.
Now, before you throw a hissy fit over stupid, American, tort lawsuits, let me point out two things:
- I agree that it’s stupid.
- It’s Canadian.
Sure, don’t believe me. Go check the link. I’ll wait here. I promise.
Ok. Believe me now? Good.
The real story here, of course, is that the man claims that this drug causes obsessive compulsive behavior and that Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd., and Pfizer Inc. conspired to supress that information from him.
What the story doesn’t mention is that Boehringer Ingelheim and Pfizer are doing a pretty good job of keeping that information out where people can find out about it.
Here’s a quote from the drug’s latest pharmacological notes:
Post-Marketing Experience: In addition to the adverse events reported during clinical trials, the following adverse reactions have been identified during post-approval use of MIRAPEX Tablets. Because these reactions are reported voluntarily from a population of uncertain size, it is not always possible to reliably estimate their frequency or establish a causal relationship to drug exposure. Decisions to include these reactions in labeling are typically based on one or more of the following factors: (1) seriousness of the reaction, (2) frequency of reporting, or (3) strength of causal connection to MIRAPEX Tablets. Similar types of events were grouped into a smaller number of standardized categories using the MedDRA dictionary: accidents (including fall), compulsive behaviors (including sexual and pathological gambling), fatigue, hallucinations (all kind), headache, hypotension (including postural hypotension), libido disorders, syncope, and blackouts. (emphasis added)
Now, aside from mourning the lost art of precise writing (or are they meaning to insinuate that their drug is alleged to make people play strip poker [the only form of sexual gambling I could come up with]?), it seems to me that they have noted that someone, somewhere has reported compulsive behavior as a side-effect of the drug, and even mentioned gambling in connection with that.
So, would I be out of line in saying that the smart money here is on the drug companies?
MickC @ May 11, 2005
Man takes legal action over Parkinson’s drug gambling link
The manufacturer of a drug used in treating Parkinson’s disease is named in a class action suit alleging it causes compulsive gambling….
i have lost 40,000 in 5 yrs. i worked with manganese,i think that is what caused my parkinson. the treatment,mirapex caused my gambling problem.it looks like i was safer in veitnam, go figure.i,am upset [phone # removed by admin]
You should be more careful before making such comments. My 69 year old dad, deeply religious, a Korean vet, solid family man, and a diagnosed Parkinson’s patient treated by that drug recently went into a deep depression mixed with compulsive gambling. Ran thru his cash, got loans, and even sold tools; in one week lost 14 pounds and I found him last week asleep in a street next to a casino. It was only today that a VA Hosp shrink established the link. We got no interest in lawsuits nor any money we have not earned. The situation is true; is happening. People have to be warned. A lawsuit is only needed if the manufacturer is not acting with the public good in mind, just the money.
Your remarks are totally off-base. I used to gamble three or four dollars a month, maximum, before Mirapex–then, over the period 2001-2003 while on that damned drug I lost around $300,000 gambling on high-stakes slots. Four or five days after halting use of the drug I stopped gambling easily, no problem at all. Oh, and the companies are doing “a pretty good job” of keeping the info out there? I don’t think so. Mirapex was approved for prescription use in July of 1997. The first so-called “warning” did not appear until late 2004. And even then it was on page 17 of a 21-page technical insert. I am no math major but I think that comes to SEVEN YEARS before any warning of compulsive gambling was given.
I almost forgot…On 12 July 2005, subsequent to your snide remarks, the Mayo Clinic (no less!) issued the results of a study stating that Mirapex was “uniquely implicated” in causing compulsive gambling in people who had never had that problem before taking the drug. Still ready to put your money on the drug companies winning this one???
[...] It seems that an old post has stirred up some trouble. Rather than fight it out in comments, I’m just going to create a new post. [...]
I think you need to do some research about Mirapex before you go flapping your jaw. The Mayo Clinic, Duke University, the FDA and many other resources are out there that all with the same information. The only one in denial is the drug company. They even had thier own recearchers on CNN Paula Zohn Show saying they had problems with mirapex. Maybe you should get on Mirapex or have you wife take the drug for two months and then you might have a change in your thinking. CNN reported that the amount people having trouble was 5% not the 1.5% as had been reported earlier.
Last time I was my friend Erin, I knew this weird link had to exist. She is a devout churchgoer and all of a sudden would go to Vegas almost every weekend. After that I looked all over the internet and found a ton of websites that talk of the link between mirapex and gambling in a lot of people. I’m not a big supporter of lawsuits, but there must be something there.
My 50 year old brother suffers from Parkinson’s. He recently revealed he had over the last six months run-up huge online gambling debts. His specialist has subsequently admitted there is a link to his medication and this compulsion. Prior to this, he had never gambled in his life. The medication has now been switched… and these urges have now disappeared. QED?
I gambled before mirapex my husband and I went to the casino’s one a month for a “date night and spent about $200 in total. After being on mirapex for 3 months, I spent over $157,000 in three months at on-line gambling sites. When I stopped taking mirapex, I had ABSOLUTELY NO DESIRE to gamble online again. It is true – I was taking Mirapex for my fibromyalgia -obviously not anymore.
I suffer from Narcolepsy & take a similar drug, Modafinil (provigil) which I reckon is causing me a gambling problem. No one seems to be able to confirm or deny a link although I have been told it is theoretically possible. Can anyone help or does anyone have a similar experience?