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National Class Action On Behalf of Canadian Users of Rexulti

On October 9, 2018, Rochon Genova LLP and Woods LLP commenced a proposed national class action on behalf of all person in Canada who have been prescribed and ingested the antipsychotic drug Rexulti.

Rexulti is the trademark for the drug, brexpiprazole. Rexulti was approved as treatment for schizophrenia in Canada in February 2017, and as treatment for depression in February 2019.

The claim alleges that Otsuka and Lundbeck – the pharmaceutical companies responsible for developing and marketing Rexulti – failed to provide Canadian uses with adequate and timely warnings about the increased risk of impulse control disorders and compulsive behaviours, such as compulsive gambling, compulsive shopping/spending, hypersexuality and binge-eating.

Rexulti is a partial dopamine agonist that is alleged to be substantially similar to the antipsychotic drug aripiprazole (marketed under the trade names Abilify and Abilify Maintena). Abilify and Abilify Maintena were approved in Canada in 2009 and 2014, and have also been associated with impulse control disorders and compulsive behaviours.

Otsuka developed Abilify and Abilify Maintena and has been commercializing and marketing them in Canada along with Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada Co. and Lundbeck Canada Inc., respectively. The claim alleges that the Otsuka and Lundbeck companies intentionally developed Rexulti to be substantially similar to Abilify, because Abilify was losing patent protection. The similarity in the chemical structures of Rexulti and Abilify/Abilify Maintena was noted in the Health Canada Summary Basis of Decision for Rexulti.

This action was commenced in the Quebec Superior Court of Justice in Montreal. Rochon Genova LLP and Woods LLP are seeking authorization of this action as a class action.

The claims have not yet been proven in court. For more information about this proposed class action, please contact Jon Sloan at 1-866-881-2292 ext. 2990 or [email protected]