A consumer advocacy group has filed a lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration for failing to act on a petition filed three years ago demanding the agency place serious warnings on a handful of drugs used to treat Parkinson’s disease that have been blamed for compulsive behaviors. These include sudden sexual urges, compulsive eating and shopping, and pathological gambling.
In its 2016 petition, Public Citizen argued that a review of more than 80 studies warrants so-called black box warnings for six different drugs, including Requip and Mirapex. And the consumer group maintained that evidence indicates there is a “causal” relationship between the widely used medicines, which are known as dopamine agonists, and impulse-control disorders.
After analyzing clinical trials, the group found overall rates of compulsive behaviors varied, ranging from 2.6% to 18.4%, depending on how Parkinson’s patients were assessed by doctors. But Public Citizen cautioned the results should be interpreted conservatively due to the potential for underreporting because such symptoms may not be easily associated with the drugs.
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