DutchNews.nl, Saturday 12
January 2013
A man from
Rotterdam who became a gambling addict after taking drugs to control
Parkinson's disease may be entitled to compensation, a Dutch court has ruled.
The
addiction to gambling led to the 69-year-old man from Rotterdam losing his wife
and job and was caused by the medication, judges in Utrecht said.
The man,
who took part in trials of the drug Permax at the end of the 1990s, blames the
medicine for his behaviour and is attempting to claim €452,000 in damages from
its maker Eli Lilly.
Side-effects
The court
said there are no indications the man had a tendency towards gambling or any
other compulsive disorder prior to taking Permax. In order to reduce the desire
to gamble, he reduced his intake of the drug ‘demonstrating a causal effect’,
the court said in its ruling.
Gambling
was included on the list of possible side effects of the drug in the
Netherlands in 2006, following the intervention of the Dutch medicine
regulation body.
This was a
year after the manufacturer first told doctors pathological gambling and libido
increase had been reported by a few users and several years before official
warnings were issued in other countries.
Prior
knowledge
If it can
be proven that Eli Lilly knew of this side effect earlier, the man will be
entitled to compensation, the court said. Gambling addiction has ruined the
man’s life and therefore ‘not mentioning these serious side effects was an
injustice to him,’ the ruling said.
Eli Lilly
is appealing against the decision. It says there is no proof of a causal link
between Permax and gambling addiction. In addition, the company says, there was
no scientific evidence that gambling could be a side effect prior to 2005.
There have
been class action suits against Eli Lilly because Permax’s side effects in the
US, Canada and Australia. Permax has since been withdrawn from sale, apparently
for other problems.
The case
was heard in December but has only now become public.
Related Articles:
".. I'm in Canada and I know it, but I will tell those listening and reading in the American audience the following: Get ready! Because there are some institutions that are yet to fall, ones that don't have integrity and that could never be helped with a bail out. Again, we tell you the biggest one is big pharma, and we told you that before. It's inevitable. If not now, then in a decade. It's inevitable and they will fight to stay alive and they will not be crossing the bridge. For on the other side of the bridge is a new way, not just for medicine but for care. ...."
No comments:
Post a Comment