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.
Now remember, I’m not saying that a drug can’t cause compulsive behavior, although I have a difficult time believing that a drug would make a man who didn’t gamble at all suddenly take it up and lose his shirt. But, I suppose that can happen. What makes this lawsuit incredibly stupid is the allegation that Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd., and Pfizer Inc., agreed to conspire together to suppress that knowledge.
That’s actually what’s important here. That they conspired together to suppress this knowledge. If there was just an unknown side effect, then there’s no case and the attorneys and their clients are simply grasping at straws.
I previously noted that the latest pharmacological notes include the following statement:
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)
Notice what this is called “Post-Marketing Experience”. That means that these are additional things that were not known before they starting marketing mirapex, but have been alleged since they started selling it.
I’m still not seeing a conspiracy to suppress this from patients. You might have been able to make that case if the Mayo study mentioned by Tom Martini in comments had come out prior to pharmacological notes I mentioned. But that study came out after they did. They reported in their Post-Marketing Experience section information that no study that I’ve been made aware of had yet confirmed.
As for the comment that it showed up on page 17 of a 21 page technical document, that’s exactly where it should show up. Your doctor is the only one who can prescribe this drug for you. Thus, it is the doctor’s and pharmacist’s job to know what the side effects are. The doctors in these cases, of course, are not being sued for malpractice.
And why not? Shouldn’t they have been reading those notes and changing prescriptions?
Take a look at the research references of the Mayo report. This dopamine agonists side effect of compulsive behavior has been noted since at least 2001. Further, Dr. Mark Stacy of the Mohammed Ali Parkinson’s Clinic in Phoenix issued an authoritative study in Aug of 2003 clearly implicating Mirapex in obsessive gambling. I cannot answer as to why the Canadian lawsuit is claiming a conspiracy. What I was offended by was your taking snide liberties with a situation that has devestated people all over the US, Canada, Britain, and who knows where else in the world. There have been ruined marriages, wrecked professional careers, suicide attempts, trashed retirement accounts, etc., all due to side effects that were known for at least 4 years before the “warning” was placed on the insert. There were NO NOTES in the insert given until late 2004. In the interim, since the drug was approved in July of 1997, there was terrible damage done. If you still have any doubts about this drug’s ability to wreck lives, visit this weblog and give it a good scan:
http://loveandcasinowar.com/blogarch/000267.php
My father gambled maybe twice a year betting a few hundred at a time. After, he started taking the drugs. He lost everything( his friends, wife, business, and put me(26) and my brother(35) deep in debt trying to help him). He was 55 years old diagnoised with parkinson’s and told this drug would help him not ruin his life. I think the drug companies, if not suppressing the information, didn’t make sure the patients knew the risk.
the same thing happened to one of my best friends. She went from a churchgoing Catholic to a Vegas regular almost overnight. It is tough to see posts that discount the effect mirapex has on people’s lives. There are several sites out there that talk about the link between mirapex and gambling. If you don’t belive me, try asking those lawyers about the clients’lives that were ruined.