A senator wants the FDA to examine whether Glaxo withheld data on the anti-anxiety pill (Note: Requip is also made and marketed by Glaxo.)

Article about Judge Jim Rosenbaum, one of those hearing the Mirapex cases in Federal Court

Patients with Parkinson's disease are about five times more likely to become problem or pathological gamblers than others, concludes a new Canadian study that offers some of the most dramatic evidence to date of the unusual link.

Joe Treyes had hoped his lawsuit against Ontario's government-owned casino operators would change his life, lessening the burden of both his Parkinson's disease and a ferocious gambling habit that may be a fallout of his medical condition.  His case was among the first of its kind, an impetus for a multi-billion-dollar, class-action lawsuit launched this month on behalf of other persistent gamblers who, like him, signed "self-exclusion" orders with casinos but were allegedly allowed to keep betting freely.

Parkinson's expert professor Dominic Rowe, chairman of neurology at the Australian School of Advanced Medicine at Macquarie University, says when the side-effects are severe, they can be devastating. A Melbourne law firm has already started work on a class action on behalf of some patients. 

Jeanette Amavisca waits to be released of debt by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District, California, a debt she attributes to gambling while on Mirapex. She filed a federal lawsuit against the drug's maker in February 2007, claiming it failed to warn patients about such potential side effects. The case is scheduled to go to court in July.

A woman convicted of stealing from her employer avoided prison after a judge agreed with her argument that a prescription medication ignited a gambling addiction.

Note:  The Mirapex civil cases from across the USA are being handled by the court consolidated as Multi-District Litigation in the Federal Court in Minnesota. Here is the link to that action: http://www.mnd.uscourts.gov/MDL-Mirapex/index.htm



 

Major drug companies are to be sued over claims that they didn't warn patients quickly enough of the possible bizarre side effects of a drug for Parkinson's Disease.

Obsessive or impulsive reward-based behavior was reported by nearly 6 in 10 patients with Parkinson's disease answering an anonymous survey, adding to the suspicion that dopaminergic medications may influence impulse control.