Lawsuit settled, but the prescribing of this drug for kids lingers on

Last month I told you that former FDA head Dr. David Kessler was going to be testifying against Big Pharma in a trial in Philadelphia.

The case was about Johnson & Johnson and its antipsychotic drug Risperdal. Dr. Kessler testified that the drug maker knew, but kept secret, a terrible risk to young boys who took the drug.  A side effect that caused the teenager in the Philadelphia case to develop size 46 DD breasts.

The jury in Philadelphia must have listened closely to what Dr. Kessler said, as it awarded the boy $2.5 million.

The J&J Janssen division, which makes the drug, issued a comment saying it was “disappointed” in the verdict.

But that may be just the beginning of its disappointment. Because there are currently thousands of other cases like the Philadelphia one coming up soon.

The state of South Carolina also took the company to court about Risperdal. That was for hounding doctors to prescribe the drug to kids.

The company sent out over 7,000 letters to doctors telling them how wonderful the drug is and conveniently forgetting to mention its side effects.

For that, the judge ruled, the company would have to fork over to the state $4,000 for each letter.

So in the end, the state of S.C. got some money, and a lot of lawyers made a lot of money.

But Risperdal is still on the market and still being prescribed for lots of children – even little boys.

Because until the settlements and legal fees far outweigh the profits J&J is banking, you can be sure more and more of our young boys will be put at risk in the name of the almighty dollar.

Source:

“SC’s top court backs Risperdal verdict against J&J, but cuts penalty to $136M” Tracy Staton, February 26, 2015, FiercePharma, fiercepharma.com