Patient Sues Drug Company for Gambling Addiction

I came across this story a couple of days ago that I just had to share. It has to do with gambling addiction and how a drug company is being blamed for a man developing compulsive behavior which he claimed he never had before. If anything, this story makes for interesting dinner conversation – definite food for thought.

So, a French father of two, Didier Jambart, developed Parkinson’s disease and was prescribed Requip, a drug developed by the British company GlaxoSmithKline to slow down the symptoms of this debilitating disease. The 51 year old claims that since he was prescribed the drug, his life has turned into a living hell. Requip has allegedly affected him in a way that he would never have imagined – including uncontrolled gay sex, suicide attempts and gambling addiction.

According to Jambart, while taking the drug, he started to gamble compulsively on the internet, eventually losing his family’s life savings. He even resorted to theft so that he could feed his online casino addiction. The man also took to cross dressing and exposing himself over the internet and was eventually demoted from his high ranking job in the French Defence Ministry.

All the symptoms stopped when the Frenchman stopped taking the drug in 2005, but by that time it was too late and he had already lost all his money and was shamed out of his job. As such, Jambert has sued Glaxo for the sum of around $600,000 for selling what he terms a ‘defective’ drug.  Amazingly, it has been known for quite a long time that Requip can cause some users to develop strange compulsions and even gambling addictions, but a warning only appeared in the drug’s paperwork in 2006 – too late to help Jambert. A warning label appears with the medication that some users “developed gambling problems  or other intense urges or behaviors that were compulsive or unusual for them, such as increased sexual urges or behaviors.”

By the way, the guy is also suing his neurologist for failing to warn him of the potential side affects of Requip.