07-11-2008, 04:02 PM
A former Wall Street banker who claims he lost $3 million from compulsive gambling caused by the popular drug, which is used to treat Restless Leg Syndrome and Parkinson’s disease, is suing Pfizer and Boehringer Ingelheim for losses he accumulated while taking the pill, Reuters reports.
Randolph Simens, 55, says he took the drug from 2002 to 2007 after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and suffering hand tremors. “It put a little tickle in me and then snowballed within a month,” Simens, who filed the lawsuit in New York State Court on his own because he said he cannot afford a lawyer, tells Reuters.
A Pfizer spokesman tells Reuters the drugmaker hasn’t marketed Mirapex since 2005, when medical studies first linked the drug to compulsive behaviors, including gambling, but that Pfizer “acted reasonably and appropriately during the entire time period it was involved with Mirapex.” We have reached out to Boehringer Ingelheim for a comment and will update if one is received.
A successful banker, Simens says he had been a recreational gambler before being prescribed the drug, but quickly became reckless, spending entire nights gambling on the Internet and traveling to casinos. “It’s stupidity. I just couldn’t stop,” he tells Reuters. After reading an article suggesting a link between Mirapex and compulsive behaviors, including gambling, Simens said he felt a wave of relief. He later joined a gambler’s support group and, within five weeks of getting off Mirapex, stopped gambling. (Source: Pharmalot)
Posted on Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:51:05 +0100 at http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Pharmalot/~3/331631042/
Author: Pharmalot
Comments: http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1603405
Randolph Simens, 55, says he took the drug from 2002 to 2007 after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and suffering hand tremors. “It put a little tickle in me and then snowballed within a month,” Simens, who filed the lawsuit in New York State Court on his own because he said he cannot afford a lawyer, tells Reuters.
A Pfizer spokesman tells Reuters the drugmaker hasn’t marketed Mirapex since 2005, when medical studies first linked the drug to compulsive behaviors, including gambling, but that Pfizer “acted reasonably and appropriately during the entire time period it was involved with Mirapex.” We have reached out to Boehringer Ingelheim for a comment and will update if one is received.
A successful banker, Simens says he had been a recreational gambler before being prescribed the drug, but quickly became reckless, spending entire nights gambling on the Internet and traveling to casinos. “It’s stupidity. I just couldn’t stop,” he tells Reuters. After reading an article suggesting a link between Mirapex and compulsive behaviors, including gambling, Simens said he felt a wave of relief. He later joined a gambler’s support group and, within five weeks of getting off Mirapex, stopped gambling. (Source: Pharmalot)
Posted on Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:51:05 +0100 at http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Pharmalot/~3/331631042/
Author: Pharmalot
Comments: http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1603405