No it's real, really!! Man claims drug made him gamble...
Posted: Wed May 11, 2005 4:28 pm
Man claims Parkinson's drug made him gamble
Last Updated Tue, 10 May 2005 06:53:37 EDT
CBC News
TORONTO - A man in Ontario has filed a class-action lawsuit against two drug manufacturers, claiming medication he took to control Parkinson's disease turned him into a compulsive gambler.
Gerry Schick, from Midland, about 120 kilometres north of Toronto, is asking for millions of dollars in compensation from Pfizer and Boehringer Ingelheim.
Lawyer Alan Farrer: 'We're focusing on Gerry, who has the gambling addiction.'
In a statement of claim filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice last week, Schick says the companies "aggressively" marketed the drug Mirapex "by understating risks associated with the use of the product."
Mirapex "has long been associated with compulsive/obsessive behaviour, including compulsive/obsessive gambling, and has been identified as a cause for these behaviours in users," the claim states.
In December, Boehringer Ingelheim updated its information on Mirapex in a filing with Health Canada. That information listed addictive gambling as a potential side effect of using the drug, a Health Canada spokesperson said.
Calls by CBC News to Boehringer and Pfizer were not returned on Friday.
Schick, 56, was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1996, and began taking Mirapex in 1999 to control his shaking and tremors.
In an interview, he said he became obsessed with gambling after he began taking the drug.
"I spent every cent I could find: in the gambling, or on Nevada tickets or scratch tickets," Schick said.
"I had to spend it. I was looking for money anywhere I could find it."
Schick claims the gambling addiction cost him more than $100,000 and nearly destroyed his marriage.
However, he says he lost the unstoppable urge to gamble when he stopped taking the drug in January. "Now I don't have the problem with gambling anymore. It's over with," Schick said.
"Now I can go into the gambling if I wanted to, put $5 in the machine and walk out again."
Lawyer Alan Farrer said the class-action suit is modeled on a similar case involving Mirapex in the United States.
"We're focusing on Gerry, who has the gambling addiction, but there are others who have had other types of compulsive/obsessive behaviour," Farrer said.
Last Updated Tue, 10 May 2005 06:53:37 EDT
CBC News
TORONTO - A man in Ontario has filed a class-action lawsuit against two drug manufacturers, claiming medication he took to control Parkinson's disease turned him into a compulsive gambler.
Gerry Schick, from Midland, about 120 kilometres north of Toronto, is asking for millions of dollars in compensation from Pfizer and Boehringer Ingelheim.
Lawyer Alan Farrer: 'We're focusing on Gerry, who has the gambling addiction.'
In a statement of claim filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice last week, Schick says the companies "aggressively" marketed the drug Mirapex "by understating risks associated with the use of the product."
Mirapex "has long been associated with compulsive/obsessive behaviour, including compulsive/obsessive gambling, and has been identified as a cause for these behaviours in users," the claim states.
In December, Boehringer Ingelheim updated its information on Mirapex in a filing with Health Canada. That information listed addictive gambling as a potential side effect of using the drug, a Health Canada spokesperson said.
Calls by CBC News to Boehringer and Pfizer were not returned on Friday.
Schick, 56, was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1996, and began taking Mirapex in 1999 to control his shaking and tremors.
In an interview, he said he became obsessed with gambling after he began taking the drug.
"I spent every cent I could find: in the gambling, or on Nevada tickets or scratch tickets," Schick said.
"I had to spend it. I was looking for money anywhere I could find it."
Schick claims the gambling addiction cost him more than $100,000 and nearly destroyed his marriage.
However, he says he lost the unstoppable urge to gamble when he stopped taking the drug in January. "Now I don't have the problem with gambling anymore. It's over with," Schick said.
"Now I can go into the gambling if I wanted to, put $5 in the machine and walk out again."
Lawyer Alan Farrer said the class-action suit is modeled on a similar case involving Mirapex in the United States.
"We're focusing on Gerry, who has the gambling addiction, but there are others who have had other types of compulsive/obsessive behaviour," Farrer said.