Family Man Became Gay, Gambling Sex Addict After Using Requip

A Parkinson’s sufferer has been awarded €200,000 ($260,000) in compensation after the medicine he was taking for his neurological condition transformed him into a gambling addict and also left him with an uncontrollable urge for gay sex.
In 2003, family man and former bank manager Didier Jambart, 52, was prescribed the GlaxoSmithKline drug Requip to treat his illness. Within two years, however, the Frenchman said his life had become “hell,” as he gambled away his family’s life savings and stole a further €82,000 from friends and work colleagues to feed his gambling habit. He said he even sold his children’s toys to help raise money.
In addition, Didier Jambart also took to cross-dressing, and arranging illicit encounters over the internet, one of which lead to him being raped by another man. Mr Jambart had even attempted suicide on eight occasions but by 2005, he had stopped taking the drug after discovering an online article linking his addictions to extreme side effects apparently associated with Requip.
Nevertheless, it was not until 2006 when a warning appeared on its package by which time Mr Jambart’s life had already descended into chaos. Earlier this year, a French court subsequently ordered UK pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline to pay Mr Jambart €117,000 but that figure has now been increased to €197,468 by an appeal court in Rennes. After the landmark ruling, the father of two commented:
“It has been a seven-year battle to get it recognized, with the limited means at our disposal, that GlaxoSmithKline lied to us and shattered our lives. I am happy that justice has been done. I am happy for my wife and my children. I am at last going to be able to sleep at night and profit from life. But it’s not as though we’ve won the lottery. This will never replace the years of pain.”