Abilify Drug Lawsuits

Female: An extremely popular drug on the market called Abilify. Now, it’s one of the bestselling drugs on the market. Last year’s sales reached in estimated $6 billion worldwide. It treat a number of psychological problems, including depression, bipolar disorder, and even autism. But, now, there are lawsuits coming out about the dangerous side effects that come with this drug. We got Atty. Jim Higgins from The Higgins Firm joining us to tell us more about the drug and the lawsuits. So, what are these side effects, Jim?

Jim Higgins: This one is different, right?

Female: OK.

Jim Higgins: So, a lot of times when we deal with medical products in our office, it may be, you know, a hip that fails too early or IVC filters we’ve talked about where they call it blood clots.

Female: Right.

Jim Higgins: This is a psychological component and it - and the claims are that Abilify can cause compulsive behavior. In particular, compulsive gambling, right?

Female: Yes, I mean - well, hold on a second, because we were talking about this and I said, “This kind of sounds like maybe somebody went and lost all of their money and now they’re blaming it on the drug.

Jim Higgins: Right.

Female: But, you said there’s a reason for this like...

Jim Higgins: Well, you know, it’s a reason that medical professionals and scientists explained as far as how it works on the brain, the components. But, I will tell you, you know, our office kind of have that same skepticism and still we started looking at these cases. And, I think the case, the original one started was out of Philadelphia. And, what happened is this one person filed a lawsuit, I think, everybody probably rolled their eyes on it, and then more and more people caught - started coming forth.

And, again, you know, a family would say, “Well, my husband,” or, “Wife just gone crazy, they need to control themselves.” But, really, the cases that we’re looking at, it’s somebody who never had a problem like this before. They started taking this drug and they truly cannot control themselves and they lose their house, their spouses, their car. I mean, it’s family destroyer and they can’t understand why they can’t control this behavior.

Female: And, it’s happening multiple times now. We’re seeing this in different people. It’s not just in isolated case like you said, it’s in multiple places.

Jim Higgins: That’s right and that’s when you started saying, “Hey, maybe there’s something more to this.”

Female: OK. Oh, my God. It’s so straight. I mean, of all the side effects, you know, you hear the long list at the end...

Jim Higgins: Right.

Female: ...that one is not mentioned.

Jim Higgins: Not mentioned, so it will be interesting.

Female: Yes.

Jim Higgins: This will start - there’s a few hundred cases going out now. We’re reviewing some cases. You know, that’s the thing that, you know, we don’t file lawsuits just to file them.

Female: Right.

Jim Higgins: So, I want to make sure that we meet with people. You know, we’re going to look at how long they’ve taken this, what was their behavior like before, what’s their behavior like after, and I always talk to family members and say...

Female: Right.

Jim Higgins: ...“You tell me, is this different?” You know, what - this is something that you just can’t explain and then through their - when we’re able to show much they’ve lost and then we’ll try to file a lawsuit and get some of that back.

Female: Very interesting. Jim Higgins at The Higgins Firm. Everybody, it’s 1800-705-2121. You can also go to higginsfirm.com and thank you to all of the people who are working with you today, because they’re serving at the mission.

Jim Higgins: Yes, (skipping their line)[00:02:52], serving at the mission.

Female: That was so cool.

Jim Higgins: I thought that was very nice. I mean, I’m trying to run out here and help them clean up.

Female: You work with good people...