text: In a setback to Johnson & Johnson, a Philadelphia jury decided the health care giant must pay $2.5 million in damages for failing to warn that its Risperdal antipsychotic could cause gynecomastia, which is abnormal development of breasts in males. The lawsuit was brought by the family of an autistic boy who took the drug in 2002 and later developed size 46 DD breasts, according to a lawyer for the family. 
   
   The case has drawn attention for a few reasons. For one, this was the first lawsuit claiming J&J hid the risks of gynecomastia to go to trial after a handful of cases were settled. The trial also served as a reminder that J&J paid $2.2 billion two years ago to resolve criminal and civil allegations of illegally marketing Risperdal to children and the elderly. Moreover, former FDA commissioner David Kessler served as a paid expert witness for the family and testified that J&J knew about the risks. ||||| Gynecomastia, enlargement of breast tissue in males, was an adverse effect of using the antipsychotic drug Risperdal, OKd for schizophrenic adults in 1993. 
   
   AN ALABAMA man who grew enormous breasts after taking an antipsychotic drug as a boy was awarded $2.5 million in damages in a Philadelphia court yesterday against the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary that makes the pill. A Common Pleas jury concluded that Austin Pledger, now 20, "was not adequately warned" that he would grow size 46DD breasts as a side effect of using Risperdal, produced by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, according to his lawyer, Thomas Kline. "This trial is important publicly," Kline told the Daily News yesterday, "because it provided for the first time a public window into the real risks of this drug." A spokeswoman for Janssen, located in Titusville, N.J., said the firm is "disappointed" and "believes this verdict should be overturned," claiming that Risperdal's side effects were clearly communicated to Pledger, his family and the prescribing doctor. 
   
   Pledger, a native of Thorsby, Ala., was first prescribed the drug in 2002 by his family physician, Kline said. 
   
   At the time, Risperdal was not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in children - Pledger, who has autism, was 8 years old when the prescription was written - and its label reported that the risk of gynecomastia, a condition that causes men to grow female breasts, was low, according to Kline. 
   
   However, in 2006, the FDA approved Risperdal's use as a schizophrenic aid for children and issued new label information that said the drug contained high levels of prolactin, a hormone that promotes breast growth, Kline said. 
   
   By that time, Pledger already had begun to develop breasts. To this day, Pledger has female-like breasts that can only be removed through a mastectomy, Kline said. 
   
   Robyn Reed Frenze, Janssen's director of product communication, said that the firm rejects these claims and that the FDA-approved label "properly warned" the boy's family "of the medication's potential side effects." 
   
   She added that Pledger's "quality of life was significantly improved during the time he was taking Risperdal." 
   
   The jurors apparently disagreed. 
   
   Pledger's case is the first of more than 1,200 filed in Philly over Risperdal to be settled, according to Kline. 
   
   On Twitter: @Vellastrations ||||| Alabama Man Awarded $2.5 Million in Damages After a Drug Allegedly Gave Him Breasts 
   
   A Philadelphia Common Pleas jury Tuesday awarded $2.5 million in damages to an Alabama man with autism who took the anti-psychotic drug Risperdal as a teen and grew size 46DD breasts, according to Thomas Kline , the man's attorney."This trial is important publicly because it provided for the first time a window into the real risks of the drug," Kline told the Philadelphia Daily News It is the first of thousands of such cases nationwide – 1,200 are pending in the Philadelphia court alone – to get a jury verdict, Kline tells PEOPLE.His client, Austin Pledger, now 20, of Thorsby, Alabama, was ruled incapacitated by the courts, so his mother, Benita Pledger, testified about the impact instead, he says."The testimony of his mother before the jury is he would smash them on a table," he says. "And that when he gets out of the shower he covers himself in a towel before he looks at himself in a mirror."A spokeswoman for the drug's manufacturer, Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, sent PEOPLE a news release saying the company is "disappointed" in the decision and is considering all its options, including appeals."We firmly believe this verdict should be overturned," the statement said. "Risperdal has improved the lives of countless children and adults throughout the world."Furthermore, the company says the drug has labels that detail the side effects, and Pledger's physician was aware of them as well.But Kline says Pledger's mother did not know about the risks when he began taking it in 2002 at age 8 to deal with the irritability associated with autism. The drug was not approved for children and adolescents until late 2006."She had no idea that it was associated with the growing of female breasts," he says. "Austin is among the most vulnerable and precious in our world."Austin's doctor, Jay Mathisen, testified he was unaware gynecomastia, the name of the condition, could result from use of the drug, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer Austin can only get rid of his breasts with a mastectomy, Kline says, which he has not yet done."He has only now been through his teenage years," he says. "These decisions are difficult and even more so when the child is frail, like Austin, so his mom has been very slow and patient."Meanwhile, Austin is "most proud of his facial hair" because he wants to be like his dad, Kline says, though every day he sees "that he is like his mom."
target: – A 20-year-old autistic man won a $2.5 million lawsuit against a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson Tuesday after his family and doctor say he developed 46DD breasts after taking an antipsychotic drug, the Philadelphia Daily News reports. Austin Pledger, from Thorsby, Ala., was first prescribed Risperdal, manufactured by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, in 2002 when he was 8; at the time, the drug wasn't FDA-approved for kids, and its label said risk was "low" for gynecomastia (the condition in which men's breasts grow larger), Thomas Kline, one of Pledger's attorneys, tells the Daily News. But when the FDA gave the green light in 2006 for the drug to be used as a schizophrenic aid for kids, new labels said the drug contained high levels of the hormone prolactin, which spurs breast growth, Kline adds. Pledger had started growing breasts by then—and now, the only way he can get rid of them is through a mastectomy, Kline says. A Janssen spokeswoman sent a statement to People noting the company is "disappointed" in the decision and that the drug's side effects were clearly spelled out for Pledger's family and prescribing physician. The spokeswoman also argued that Pledger's "quality of life was significantly improved during the time he was taking Risperdal," per the Daily News. But Stephen Sheller, another Pledger attorney, says "there was grave mistreatment of children" and that Johnson & Johnson "hid data from the FDA, prescribing doctors, and parents. Documents showed they knew there was much [a] higher percentage of children getting gynecomastia than they admitted," reports the Wall Street Journal. Still waiting to be settled in the Philly court system: more than 1,200 other cases against Risperdal, says Kline. (Another strange medical lawsuit: This man says his insurer is responsible for ruining his penis.)