A massive medical mix-up…
According to a story in The Philadelphia Daily News, an Alabama man who grew enormous breasts after taking an antipsychotic drug as a boy, was awarded almost €2.1 million ($2.5 million) in damages in a Philadelphia court against the company that makes the pill.
Austin Pledger, now 20, “was not adequately warned” that he would grow size 46DD breasts as a side effect of using Risperdal, produced by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, according to his lawyer, Thomas Kline.
A spokesperson for the company, located in the unfortunately aptly-named Titusville, New Jersey, believes “this verdict should be overturned.”
Pledger, who has autism, was 8 years old when the original prescription was written in 2002, and its label reported that the risk of gynecomastia, a condition that causes men to grow female breasts, was low, according to Kline.
However, in 2006, the FDA issued new label information that said the drug contained high levels of prolactin, a hormone that promotes breast growth.
By that time, however, Pledger already had begun to develop breasts and now has female-like breasts that can only be removed through a mastectomy.
The jurors disagreed with the arguments put forward by the drug company and Pledger has since been awarded €2.1 million in damages.
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