The most recent report from the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation shows 2,231 testosterone lawsuits included in the Illinois MDL —and there’s no sign that the flood of lawsuits will let up any time soon. According to the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) database, over 40 new testosterone lawsuits were filed in the last week alone. A testosterone lawsuit filed last month by a South Carolina couple alleges AbbVie’s “Low-T” drug AndroGel caused the husband to suffer deep vein thrombosis.
Testosterone therapy products have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for hormone regulation in men with medically reduced testosterone, or hypogonadism. Testosterone is not approved for use in men experiencing low testosterone due to aging, as the FDA reiterated last month. However, according to agency data, a significant portion of testosterone prescriptions are written without adequate blood testing. Companies like AbbVie and Eli Lily continue to rake in hundreds of millions of dollars annually, despite government warnings that testosterone replacement therapy may increase patients’ risk of heart attack and stroke.
According to the new testosterone lawsuit, which has been entered as part of the growing testosterone multidistrict litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the husband began taking AndroGel when his doctor prescribed it to him in 2012. But only a month after beginning treatment, the husband began suffering from deep vein thrombosis, allegedly as a side effect of testosterone therapy. The South Carolina couple claims AbbVie failed to adequately warn doctors and patients of the risks of testosterone treatment.
