Jury says J&J must pay $8 billion in case over male breast growth linked to Risperdal

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

BUSINESS NEWS OCTOBER 8, 2019 / 5:51 PM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO

Jury says J&J must pay $8 billion in case over male breast growth linked to Risperdal

Brendan Pierson, Nate Raymond
4 MIN READ

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson must pay $8 billion in punitive damages to a man who previously won $680,000 over his claims that it failed to warn that young men using its antipsychotic drug Risperdal could grow breasts, a Philadelphia jury said on Tuesday.

The Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas jury’s verdict in favor of Nicholas Murray came in the first case in which a Pennsylvania jury had been able to consider awarding punitive damages in one of thousands of Risperdal cases pending in the state.

“This jury, as have other juries in other litigations, once again imposed punitive damages on a corporation that valued profits over safety and profits over patients,” Murray’s lawyers, Tom Kline and Jason Itkin, said in a joint statement. “Johnson & Johnson and (subsidiary) Janssen chose billions over children.”

J&J said the award was “grossly disproportionate with the initial compensatory award in this case, and the company is confident it will be overturned.” It added that the jury in the case had not been allowed to hear evidence of Risperdal’s benefits.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-johnson-johnson-risperdal-verdict/jury-says-jj-must-pay-8-billion-in-case-over-male-breast-growth-linked-to-risperdal-idUSKBN1WN2HK

[mr_lebowski]

1. Good. Throw the friggin' book at 'em. Read this Rolling Stone article

that I read back when it came out, and you'll see why I feel this way:

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/from-the-issue-bitter-pill-74281/

Risperdal is another drug from the same class of atypical anti-psychotics as the one described in the article that has been massively prescribed for off-label uses.

These drugs were the 'replacement' for Big Pharma's lost profits once the SSRI's went off-patent.

[CountAllVotes]

2. A friend of mine was given this for muscle spams/anxiety

I do not believe it helped her.

And yes, ...

They are so damned greedy!