Risperidone, sold under the name Risperdal, has recently come under major legal scrutiny and been the subject of Risperdal lawsuits over the issue of male breast growth.

Risperdal, made by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, is an atypical antipsychotic. This means that the drug is designed to treat schizophrenia more specifically than older drugs. Older generations of antipsychotic drugs had powerful sedating effects on the patient, and sought to relieve the symptoms of schizophrenia by generally sedating the patient, hoping to relieve the symptoms in the process.

However, Risperdal is more selective than older drugs, treating patients without the same degree of feeling drugged. Like many drugs designed to treat maladies of the brain, the drug was found to be helpful against several other disorders, and it was subsequently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat bipolar disorder, as well as aggression and irritability associated with autism.

However, the drug has been found to cause a number of serious Risperdal side effects. This allegedly includes a condition called gynecomastia, or male breast growth. Also called “man boobs,” gynecomastia is an emotionally scarring disability, and can be very stigmatizing. This problem is compounded in young men suffering from mental illnesses, those most likely to take Risperdal. Additionally, Risperdal is associated with weight gain and diabetes, which may initially camouflage gynecomastia.

The male breast growth side effect has led a growing number of Risperdal lawsuits.

The litigation over Risperdal side effects has taken the form of an multidistrict litigation (MDL) or mass tort. An MDL is a sort of coordinated group of lawsuits, similar to class action lawsuits. In both class action lawsuits and MDLs, a group of plaintiffs allege that they have suffered similar harm at the hands of the same individual.

Group litigation like MDLs and class action lawsuits are designed to help streamline the legal system by combining tens, hundreds, or even thousands of individual suits into a single legal action. The main difference is that class action lawsuits start out as group lawsuits, while MDLs start out as individual lawsuits which are similar enough to be grouped together after they are filed.

This is a major part of why MDLs are more common in drug litigation than class action lawsuits. People using prescription drugs tend to have injuries that vary, making a single class action lawsuit unrealistic. This situation is ideal for forming an MDL by combining these individual suits. Once combined, the legal system can avoid duplicating efforts and spending resources on nearly-identical Risperdal lawsuits.

The Risperdal Gynecomastia MDL is In re: Risperdal Litigation, Case No. 100300296, in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.