Risperdal is one of a numerous amount of anti-psychotic drugs used to treat depression and other mental health conditions, such as bi-polar disease. A new lawsuit is alleging, and potentially proving, that Johnson & Johnson hid three studies linking the drug to diabetes.
As early as 1999, Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen unit had researchers’ findings that about half the patients taking Risperdal in a study comparing its risks to those of Eli Lilly & Co.’s Zyprexa antipsychotic drug developed diabetes after a year on the medication, Joseph Glenmullen, a psychiatrist and Harvard Medical School instructor, told a Texas jury yesterday.
Diabetes is a significant condition which can lead to other serious health risks including heart attack, nerve damage, and other cardio-vascular diseases.
The lawsuit further allege that the studies found that Risperdal led to "medically serious weight gain." Despite this knowledge, J&J salespeople were allegedly "telling doctors that researchers concluded the drug didn't cause the disease."
