The lawsuits allege that the manufacturer has acted negligently and fraudulently in the marketing of these two drugs. According to Stacey Burling of Philly.com, the suits also name a media company and its parent company, saying they "were involved in publishing ghostwritten studies they should have known were misleading or exaggerated."
Burling reports that Lawyer Stephen Sheller said some of the boys grew breasts the size of a 38D cup, and some will require surgical breast removal.
This is not the first time Janssen has run into trouble regarding Risperdal. As we reported in 2004, the company admitted, under pressure from the FDA, that it had made misleading claims and minimized known risks regarding the drug.
Risperdal, which is approved for pediatric use, and Invega, which is not, are atypical antipsychotics. Both are approved for use in treating schizophrenia; Risperdal is also approved for bipolar disorder. Burling reported that another lawyer on these cases said that most of the patients were taking the drug off-label for conditions like ADD, Tourette syndrome, and disruptive behavior.
While abnormal breast growth is listed in known side effects of Risperdal, lawyers said the information is not emphasized properly and the numbers are under-reported.
According to Burling, Lawyer Sheller theorized that the boys' doctors may not have realized the seriousness of the breast growth because the boys also gained significant weight.
I’ve had this problem with all anti-psychotics I’ve been on, although Risperdal and Invega were not among them.