Prescription drugs for Parkinson’s linked to new addictions
A class action in the Federal Court is being pursued by over 100 Australians who allegedly became addicted to gambling and pornography after having a prescription drug used to help treat Parkinson’s disease.
The group includes people who claimed they lost hundreds of thousands of dollars and were involved in family breakdowns through compulsive gambling allegedly linked to drugs taken between 1997 and 2009.
They are suing Pfizer Australia over its drug Cabaser and Aspen Pharmacare which marketed and distributed the drug Permax in Australia. Most of the claimants referred to gambling addictions and a number said they developed compulsive sexual behaviour such as searching for pornography on the Internet.
The class action being run by the law firm Arnold Thomas & Becker claims that Pfizer Australia and Aspen Pharmacare Australia had breached a duty of care by failing to research possible side effects of the drugs, or by failing to heed research into side effects.
