Following up on Rep. Kennedy’s recent Ambien-related mishap, the Boston Globe notes that a class action lawsuit was filed in March against Ambien manufacturer Sanofi-Aventis by “several hundred patients who claim the drug caused them to awake in trance-like states and drive cars or engage in other strange behavior, which they often did not remember.”
Meanwhile, a few papers have run stories from other users of the drug who claim to have turned into “Ambien Zombies”: “driving, cooking, eating – even shoplifting – in their sleep.” Sanofi-Aventis seems to be maintaining radio silence, to judge by its website. Perhaps the company is just betting this will all blow over when the next celeb drug incident shifts the media’s attention elsewhere.
