In a motion filed on January 16, 2019, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co and Otsuka Pharmaceutical Company requested the judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation for the antipsychotic drug Abilify to toss gambling lawsuits filed by 550 plaintiffs unless they furnish more information linked to their Abilify use and past medical records.
The companies asserted that the plaintiffs violated a court order that required them to submit additional information latest by November 2018. There were more than 2,170 Abilify lawsuits pending in a federal court in north Florida as of December 2018. All the lawsuits filed alleged that drug makers marketed the antipsychotic masking the risks of compulsive gambling and unusual behavior traits from the consumers. The multidistrict litigation MDL No. 2734 (In Re: Abilify Compulsive Behavior Products Liability Litigation) was formed in October 2016 in the Northern District of Florida overlooked by Judge M. Casey Rodgers for coordinated discovery and pre-trial proceedings.
