Class Action Claims Parkinson’s Drug Causes Compulsive Gambling

A class action filed in Ontario charges that two multi-national drug companies suppressed information that a drug treating Parkinson’s disease also increases “the risk of obsessive/ compulsive behavior, including compulsive/obsessive gambling.”  Gerard Schick v. Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd., Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Pfizer, Inc., No. DSCV 388851 (Ontario Super. Ct.). The claim further asserts that patients have developed compulsive gambling disorders as a result of taking the drug. The plaintiffs demand $50 million in punitive damages, plus $3 million for each gambler in the class, in addition to the amount of their gambling losses.

Introduced in 1999, the drug Mirapex treats the tremors, rigidity and other symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease. According to the plaintiffs, the drug companies knew as early as 1993 that Mirapex had caused obsessive/compulsive disorders in some patients but never disclosed this side effect. They point to an August 2003 article in the journal Neurology that allegedly showed a correlation between the drug and obsessive/compulsive behavior, including “pathological gambling.” The article also reports that one drug company in December 2004 listed “addictive gambling as a potential side effect” in an official filing with the Canadian government.

The named plaintiff in the lawsuit, Gerard Schick, asserts that he began taking Mirapex in August 1999 for his Parkinson’s disease. Prior to taking the drug, Schick gambled occasionally, but allegedly the Mirapex eventually caused him to gamble compulsively at casinos, racetracks and on slot machines. Later, he filed for bankruptcy and lost his house. Schick also alleges that he stopped taking the drug in January 2005 and now does not gamble.

The suit does not contend wrongdoing by any casino or gaming-related entity.