Man Awarded $8b After Drug Made Him Grow Breasts

Johnson & Johnson is facing lawsuits from more than 13,000 people over the antipsychotic drug Risperdal, and now one of those complaints has spurred an enormous payout. A Philly jury has come in with an $8 billion award in punitive damages against J&J and one of its subsidiaries, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, after a Maryland man claimed Risperdal he took as a child to treat autism led to breast enlargement, a incurable condition in men known as gynecomastia. Plaintiff Nicholas Murray, 26, alleged that J&J failed to adequately warn doctors of the risks of the drug, which he took for a 5-year period beginning at age 9. Compensatory damages for Murray amounting to $680,000 had previously been awarded in 2016. “This jury resoundingly told Johnson & Johnson that its actions were deliberate and malicious,” Murray’s lawyers said, adding that “J&J disregarded the safety of the most vulnerable of children.”