J&J Settles Risperdal Gynecomastia Lawsuit Before Trial

The case, N.F. v. Janssen Pharmaceuticals, was settled last week for a confidential sum. It would have been the sixth lawsuit in the Risperdal mass tort program to reach trial, and the first to go before a jury since J&J subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals was slapped with a $70 million verdict over similar allegations in July.

According to the lawsuit, “N.F.” had been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, impulse control disorder and oppositional defiance disorder. He was first prescribed Risperdal when he was 7-years-old, and although he was taken off the drug after about a year, his treatment resumed with a generic equivalent a few years later. He took Risperdal for a total of about four years, according to the complaint.

Like all lawsuits in the mass tort, plaintiff alleged that Risperdal caused him to develop excessive breast tissue, a condition known as gynecomastia, and that Janssen failed to adequately warn of this risk.

Plaintiff’s attorney described last week’s agreement as a “one-off” settlement, and said there are currently no talks underway that would resolve the Risperdal mass tort program in Philadelphia. Jury selection for the next case is set to begin in early December.

This is not the first lawsuit from the Risperdal mass tort to settle before trial. In May, the case Moffat v. Janssen Pharmaceuticals also settled for an undisclosed amount.

In addition to the $70 million verdict in July, another Risperdal lawsuit tried last year resulted in an award of $1.75 million for the plaintiff. Of the three other cases to reach trial, one ended with a $500,000 award, another came to a $2.5 million award, and in the third a jury determined that, although Janssen failed to adequately warn about Risperdal, the drug was not the cause of the plaintiff’s gynecomastia.

Source: Law360