Lawsuit: Antipsychotic drugs caused boys' breast growth

A Philadelphia law firm said today that it filed 10 lawsuits on behalf of boys and young men who developed serious side effects - including the growth of breasts - while taking the antipsychotic medications Risperdal and Invega.

The suits were filed in Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. Lawyer Stephen Sheller said he expects to file 20 to 30 more similar cases in Philadelphia in the next two months. His firm has 10 cases involving boys who took Risperdal and another medication pending in New Jersey.

The drugs in the Philadelphia case are made by Janssen, a division of Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceutical, which is part of Johnson & Johnson Co. All of the companies, which are named in the suits, are based in New Jersey, but Ortho-McNeil is incorporated in Pennsylvania, Sheller said.

Only one of the plaintiffs, a young man who took Risperdal in his teens, is from Philadelphia. He could not be reached for comment. The suit says he experienced rapid weight gain and developed breasts that will require surgical removal. The side effects caused him to suffer "mental anguish" and "embarrassment," the suit said.

Janssen declined to comment today. "We have not received details of the cases and are therefore unable to comment at this time," spokeswoman Kara Russell said.

The suits also named Excerpta Medica Inc., of Bridgewater, N.J., and its parent, Elsevier Science Publishing Co. Inc., of New York City. Sheller said the companies were involved in publishing ghostwritten studies they should have known were misleading or exaggerated, he says.