Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 13,434
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Men to sue drug company that made them grow Breast
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When teenage Eddie Bible looked in the mirror, he didn't see a boy. It was too difficult for him to look past the large breasts on his chest.
"I had bigger boobs than the girls in (high) school," he said. "I thought, 'Am I going to have to get a training bra?' "
At 13 years old, Bible was suffering a side effect -- not disclosed at the time -- of medication he was taking for anxiety and bipolar disorder.
"They put me on this Risperdal. The doctors said, 'Well, Risperdal was helping some.' To me, it didn't really help, because a year and a half later, I had gynecomastia."
Gynecomastia is a condition that causes teen boys or men's breast tissue to grow. Bible and thousands of others are preparing to sue Johnson & Johnson for damages, claiming the company did not disclose this possible side effect in a timely manner
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Though it's not uncommon for teen boys to develop some breast tissue during puberty, this is different. This, Bible says, was humiliating.
At first, Bible thought his breasts were a result of weight gain, also something many who take Risperdal go through. So, at least initially, he overlooked it
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"If I knew what the side effects would be of the medication, I would have never taken it," Bible said of Risperdal, which he took in the early 2000's.
Soon after his breasts became noticeable, Bible stopped going outside with his friends. Most days, he'd retreat to his room and play video games to block out the world. When he was forced to go outside to attend school, he had to deal with "the looks," he says.
And, of course, the comments.
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'13,000 victims'
The fact that doctors continue to prescribe Risperdal today is concerning for Jason Itkin, a lawyer who represents Eddie Bible and "13,000 victims like him who were injured by the drug."
They are suing J&J for financial damages related to "disfigurement caused by Risperdal."
"Unfortunately, past fines that J&J has already paid did nothing to help those who directly suffered through the bullying and shaming after developing female breasts," Itkin said.
"In the mid-'90s, early 2000s, Johnson & Johnson made a conscious decision that they were going to withhold important information about their drug so that they could essentially increase their profits by selling it to kids," Itkin said. "J&J went out of their way to hurt these kids, and now the information has come to light."
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http://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/14/he...erdal-lawsuit/
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