Trial Underway on Parkinson's Drug Gambling Effect

Susy Owen

Attorney

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Mirapex, a drug used in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, has been linked to the onset of "pathological gambling." Mirapex marketers Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer Inc. and Pharmacia Corp. have been accused of knowing of this link as early as September 2004.

A Minneapolis federal judge is one of more than three hundred consolidated lawsuits that claim the sellers of the drug failed to alert consumers of the risk of not only compulsive gambling but of aggressive behavior as a result of taking the drug. In addition to punitive damages, the allegations include strict product liability, negligence, negligent misrepresentation and breach of warranty.

Defense attorneys are seeking to have the trial divided into liability and punitive damage phases. They do not wish to have the companies’ finances disclosed during a single trail. They believe that their finances are irrelevant to their liability and would be unduly prejudicial.

Charbonneau, one of the many plaintiffs in this case, opposes the idea, saying the liability and damages issues are "intertwined."