Jury awards man $8B for claims a J&J drug made him grow breasts

A Philadelphia jury has ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay a whopping $8 billion for a claim that the company failed to warn patients about serious side effects associated with an anti-psychotic drug.

The lawsuit was brought against the drugmaker after a man said that he began taking Risperdal as a child and then developed an incurable condition called gynecomastia, which causes men to develop breasts. The suit is one of about 13,000 that have been levied against J&J for similar claims. 

Analysts have called this recent verdict “excessive,” especially because the plaintiff has already been awarded $680,000 in compensatory damages. But many analysts also believe that the $8 billion penalty will most likely be lowered in further court proceedings.

J&J has already paid out $2.2 billion to settle criminal and civil investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice for its marketing of Risperdal.

Read the full Reuters report.