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French Court Finds Straight Man Turned Gay Sex Addict after Taking GSK’s “Requip”

Didiet Jambart started taking the drug Requip manufactured by GlaxoSmithKiline to treat his Parkinson’s disease, in 2003. The medication turned the married father into a gay sex addict and compulsive gambler, who even stole from his friends and family, and sold his children’s toys to fund his habits.

He advertised himself for gay sex and lost a huge amount of money in online gambling. Before Jambart started taking Requip, he was considered a model member of the community he lived in. According to media reports, the behavior stopped, once Jambart, a former bank manager, stopped taking the drug.

However, while he was on Requip, Jambart attempted suicide at least eight times, exposed himself on the Internet, engaged in high-risk sexual encounters that also led to his being raped, and also tried cross-dressing. His family was at a loss with what was happening with Jambert.

Jambart stopped taking Requip in 2005. He did this after he stumbled upon a website with information about suspicious side effects of Requip and its connection with addictions.

Jambart’s lawyers said that GlaxoSmithKline was aware of adverse side effects of Requip, but did not care to inform patients. It was only from 2006 that GSK started warning users of Requip about possible side effects.

The current warning on Requip packages read, “Some patients taking REQUIP get urges to behave in a way unusual for them. Examples of this are an unusual urge to gamble or increased sexual urges and behaviours. If you notice or your family notices that you are developing any unusual behaviours, talk to your healthcare provider.

After a 7-year long battle with GlaxoSmithKline, finally Jambart was vindicated by a French appeals court in Rennes, which not only upheld a lower court order of compensation, but increased the compensation to Jambart to a total sum of $255,824.

Jambart told the media, “I am happy that justice has been done. I am happy for my wife and my children…” but he holds, “My life was hell. It still is because you cannot forget a catastrophe like that.”

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