Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Paula Patrick issued an opinion on Wednesday to Pennsylvania Superior Court to uphold the $77 million Risperdal verdict stating that it was within the jury's discretion.
The verdict was announced by a Philadelphia jury in July 2016 in favor of a Tennessee teen blaming Risperdal for the alleged breast growth. The reward amount was the largest against Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen unit over gynecomastia allegations in Philadelphia. The defendant appealed to the Superior Court asserting that there was inadequate evidence produced and the jury verdict amount was excessive.
So far, the $77 million is the highest recorded amount for a Risperdal lawsuit among a group of other similar cases. The second largest being $2.5 million, which a jury handed up in February 2015.
Risperdal is prescribed to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and irritability associated with autism disorder. However, the drugmaker faces more than 6,000 lawsuits over failure to warn about its link to gynecomastia. Janssen ignored several FDA warnings regarding the false marketing of the product as safer than other antipsychotics drugs. Two coordinated actions have been filed for Risperdal cases: one in Los Angeles Superior Court (Risperdal and Invega Product Liability Cases, JCCP 4775) and the other in Philadelphia (In Re: Risperdal Litigation, March 2010 Term, Case No. 100300296).
