Settlement Reached in Risperdal Gynecomastia Lawsuit

Santa Clara, CAA settlement has been reached in a lawsuit against the makers of the antipsychotic drug Risperdal (Risperidone). The suit, had it gone to court, would have been the sixth to be heard in a mass torte pending against Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. In the last case that went to court, the jury, awarded the plaintiff $70 million. This latest suit was settled for a confidential amount.

The allegations in the case, N.F. v. Janssen Pharmaceuticals,
are that a young man taking Risperdal grew excessive breast tissue, a condition known as gynecomastia. According to court documents, the plaintiff had been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, impulse control disorder and oppositional defiance disorder. At the age of seven he was prescribed Risperdal, for the first time, and stayed on the antipsychotic for just over a year. A few years later he was placed on a generic form of the drug and remained on it for nearly four years.

This is not the first Risperdal case Janssen has settled just before going to court for an undisclosed amount. Lawyers representing the plaintiff in N.F. v. Janssen Pharmaceuticals also tried the case that ended in the $70 million verdict, a case in 2015 that settled for a $1.75 million, and three other, one which ended with a $500,000 award, another for $2.5 million, and the third in which the jury determined that, although Janssen negligently failed to warn about Risperdal, the drug was not the cause of the plaintiff's breast growth.

Risperdal is an atypical antipsychotic that works by changing the activity of certain natural substances in the brain. Developed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, Risperdal was approved by the FDA in 1993 for the treatment of schizophrenia in adults. Risperdal Lawsuits have shown a link between Risperdal and growing male breasts, known as Risperdal gynecomastia. Other Risperdal side effects include tardive dyskinesia, high blood sugar and diabetes, stroke, heart attack and even death.