November 4, 2014 — A new study has added more evidence linking Abilify and impulse-control disorders, such as gambling addiction, hyper-sexuality, and obsessive shopping.
The study, published last month in JAMA Internal Medicine, reported 37 cases of behavior disorders in patients on Abilify.
A much stronger signal was seen for Mirapex and Requip, which are Parkinson’s disease treatments. They belong to the same class as Abilify, dopamine receptor agonists.
Findings of the study led researchers to warn that drug-makers may not be doing enough to warn about the risk. They are calling for a Black Box Warning on Parkinson’s drugs.
Evidence linking Abilify and gambling addiction dates back to at least 2009 and several recent studies have also linked Abilify and gambling disorders:
- In 2011, three case reports of Abilify-induced gambling addiction in schizophrenic patients were published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.
- Another study, also published in 2011, described three additional cases in patients who had no history of gambling addiction before taking Abilify. All of the patients improved after discontinuing the drug.
- Last year, French researchers published a study in Addictive Behavior describing 7 cases of gambling addiction that were possibly caused by Abilify.
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