Testosterone Lawsuits Have Reached Almost 1,500 Fillings, According to Court Records
- Tree of Knowledge Research
- May 20, 2015
- 3 min read
Court records indicate that close to 1,500 testosterone lawsuits are currently pending against the manufacturers of testosterone replacement medications. A majority of these cases are consolidated in the case In Re: Testosterone Replacement Therapy Product Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2545, Case No. 14 C 1748, a national multidistrict litigation suit in the U.S. District for the Northern District of Illinois. The litigation formed as a result of men who allegedly suffered serious adverse health effects including strokes and heart attacks after taking testosterone therapy medications. [ilnd.uscourts.gov/mdl/kennelly/mdl-detail.aspx Northern District of Illinois, June 6, 2014]
The case has multiple defendant manufacturers of Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) medicines, including: Eli Lilly and Company (Axiron); Watson Laboratories (Androderm); Abbot Laboratories, Inc.; Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Auxilium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Lilly USA, Inc.; and, Abbvie, Inc.. Both Abbot Laboratories and Abbvie make AndroGel -- the most popular form of TRT drug on the market. The Honorable Judge Matthew F. Kennelly, sitting before the Northern District Court, will oversee the case while Simmons Hangly Conroy, Shareholder Trent Miracle, along with attorneys Ronald E. Johnson Jr. and Christopher A. Seeger are counsel for the plaintiffs, overseeing over thirty other attorneys representing men seriously injured from taking testosterone replacement medications. [ilnd.uscourts.gov/mdl/kennelly/PDFs/Master%20Short%20Form%20Complaint%20editable.pdf, Northern District of Illinois, May 6, 2015]
The lawsuits arise from a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) safety alert; one of which was issued in January of 2014, stating investigations were being conducted regarding the risks of heart attack, stroke, and even death in men prescribed TRT medications. One study that sparked interest into the risks of testosterone products included a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in Novermber of 2013 that linked an elevated risk of heart attack, strokes, and death caused by TRT medications. [fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm383904.htm FDA January 31, 2014]
In June of 2014, the FDA mandated drug label warnings, requiring manufacturers of TRT products to state the risk of blood clots forming in veins. These warnings came on the heels of information of venous blood clots forming after the products became available on the market for prescription by doctors. [fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm401746.htm FDA June 19, 2014]
No recalls have been issued on behalf of the FDA; however, the FDA issued safety alerts regarding the potential for heart attack, risk of stroke, and death in men who take FDA-approved TRT medications. [jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1764051 Journal of American Medicine November 6, 2013]
TRTs are drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of abnormally low testosterone in men, a condition known as hypogonadism. These drugs are designed to supplement a man’s low testosterone level when his body lacks the ability to produce a sustainable amount of testosterone on its own. The FDA warns that these medications have not been approved “for the treatment of low testosterone levels due to aging, even if a man’s symptoms seem related to low testosterone.” [fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm436259.htm, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, March 3, 2015]
Among the allegations that plaintiffs contend against defendants include that the defendants failed to warn or inadequately warned of the side effects of the drugs, that the defendants misrepresented what the drugs should be used for, employing aggressive marketing schemes to convince men who did not suffer from hypogonadism or related medical conditions to use the drug. While many lawsuits have been filed in the Northern Illinois federal court, other complaints have been filed in a variety of state courts including Pennsylvania, Missouri, Indiana, and California. The trials are scheduled to begin in the fall of 2016. [forbes.com/sites/arleneweintraub/2015/04/06/whats-next-for-the-thousands-of-angry-men-suing-over-testosterone/ Forbes April 6, 2015]
