The Thompson Law Firm filed two civil complaints in Federal District Court of Minnesota on behalf of patients who were prescribed Mirapex for Parkinson and restless leg syndrome. The plaintiffs suffered adverse effects of compulsive behaviors such as pathological gambling. The complaints were filed in the United States District Court of Minnesota against Boehringer Ingelheim and Pfizer.
The complaints charge defendants’ Mirapex has caused plaintiffs physical injury, emotional distress, and economic loss of more than several hundred thousand dollars each. Further, the complaints allege that defendants knew about Mirapex’s potential to cause compulsive behaviors, but did not issue any warnings or take steps to investigate the true scope of the problem.
One of the first studies that linked compulsive pathological gambling to Mirapex was published in 2003 in the Journal of Neurology. In this article, researchers at the Muhammad Ali Parkinson’s Research Center monitored 1,800 Parkinson patients over a year and determined that of 529 patients who took Mirapex, eight developed gambling addictions. In the Mayo Clinic study of July 2005, researchers reported in the Archives of Neurology more documented compulsive gambling behavior related to Mirapex. The report identified 11 Parkinson’s patients who developed gambling problems while taking Mirapex. In July 2008, a federal jury agreed with a plaintiff and awarded the plaintiff’s gambling losses along with $7.8 million in punitive damages, according to a statement from The Thompson Law Firm. A Multidistrict Litigation (MDL), 07-1-1836, has been established by a federal judicial panel.
