Low T 116 articles

The $150 million verdict awarded in the first bellwether trial alleging AbbVie Inc., fraudulently misrepresented its testosterone replacement therapy AndroGel was tossed out by an Illinois federal judge last week and a new trial ordered. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly said the jury’s verdict was “internally inconsistent” because jurors awarded punitive damages based on the misrepresentation claim, but did not award compensatory damages because they did not find the drug company liable for the plaintiff’s injury. “Of course, it would violate the precepts of logic to assert simultaneously that a party has been damaged and not been damaged,” Judge Kennelly ... Read More

AbbVie Inc.’s marketing of its testosterone replacement therapy AndroGel was part of an “insidious” plan to up its profits, argued attorneys for a man suing AbbVie over claims that the drug company didn’t study AndroGel’s cardiovascular risks. Jeffrey Konrad claims he used AndroGel for a few months before suffering a heart attack in 2010. He alleges that AbbVie was aware at that time that testosterone treatments were linked to cardiovascular risks, including heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots – all of which could be fatal. But AbbVie failed to adequately warn Konrad or his doctor of the risks so that ... Read More

The Illinois jury that awarded an Oregon couple $150 million in a case alleging AbbVie Inc.’s testosterone replacement therapy AndroGel caused his heart attack sent a loud-and-clear message to drug companies: Lay off the heavy advertising. Jesse Mitchell and his wife Kimberly filed their lawsuit in November 2014. It became one of more than 7,000 lawsuits against AbbVie and other manufacturers of testosterone replacement therapies alleging the drug caused heart attacks, strokes and blood clots. The lawsuits were consolidated into a multidistrict litigation (MDL) in the Northern District of Illinois in 2014. Mitchell’s case was the first bellwether trial in ... Read More

Jesse Mitchell was in his mid 40s when he was stricken with lethargy, anxiousness and depression. He started taking AndroGel testosterone replacement therapy, lured by the aggressive marketing campaigns geared directly to consumers informing them that AndroGel could cure so-called Low T. Mitchell said the gel did boost his energy and he continued to use the hormone treatment, Law360 reported. But in 2012, after using the medication for about two years off and on, Mitchell suffered a heart attack. He learned that testosterone treatments had been linked to cardiovascular risks including heart attacks, strokes, blood clots and death, and in ... Read More

There is plenty of evidence to show that testosterone replacement therapy increases the risk for hear attacks, a cardiologist told an Illinois federal jury during the first trial among thousands in a multi district litigation alleging Abbie’s AndroGel causes heart risks, Law360 reports. Dr. Hossein Ardehali, a cardiologist at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, is an expert witness testifying for plaintiff Jesse Mitchell. Dr. Ardehali told jurors that he reviewed several studies involving men who took AndroGel and concluded that there was sufficient evidence to show the testosterone treatment increases cardiovascular risks. For example, he pointed to a 2010 ... Read More

Peggy Pence, the president and CEO of pharmaceutical consulting firm Symbion Research International Inc., told an Illinois federal jury that there was enough evidence that testosterone replacement therapies may cause heart attacks that warnings should be placed on the hormone treatments’ labels and further testing should be conducted, Law360 reports. Pence told the jury in the first bellwether among thousands in a multidistrict litigation (MDL) to go to trial alleging cardiovascular risks with testosterone treatments that Abbvie had received so many reports of heart problems in patients who had used its AndroGel testosterone gel that further testing was warranted. Pence ... Read More

AbbVie Inc. misled the public by aggressively promoting its testosterone replacement therapy AndroGel for off-label uses, said the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The statement was part of expert testimony in a case of a man alleging AndroGel caused him to suffer a massive heart attack, Law360 reports. David Kessler, who served as FDA commissioner from 1990 to 1997, said that AbbVie promoted its testosterone gel directly to men by fabricating a condition called “Low T” to treat symptoms such as low libido, weight gain and muscle loss. AbbVie understood that those symptoms, as well as ... Read More

AbbVie Inc., faced with thousands of lawsuits alleging the drug company downplayed heart attack and stroke risks with its testosterone treatment AndroGel, told an Illinois federal jury that there was no definitive link between use of its hormone replacement therapy and cardiovascular risks, Law360 reported. The drug company told jurors during opening statements at the trial of Jesse Mitchell that it was not obligated to warn patients about the risk of heart attacks. Mitchell claims he used AndroGel off and on for several years before suffering a massive heart attack in 2012. He blames the event on his use of ... Read More

AbbVie Inc. fabricated a condition called Low T to lure men without hypogonadism to use its testosterone replacement therapy AndroGel but didn’t tell them that using the hormone treatment could put them at risk of life threatening heart attacks, attorneys for an AndroGel user who nearly died told an Illinois federal jury. The case of Jesse Mitchell versus AbbVie is the second bellwether to go to trial among thousands lodged against AbbVie and other testosterone treatment manufacturers. The first ended in a mistrial when the plaintiff’s lead attorney fell ill. That trial was rescheduled for September. Those suing the drug ... Read More

Two cases among more than 6,000 lawsuits waged against Eli Lilly and Co. over testosterone side effects have been selected by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to serve as bellwether trials in the Testosterone Replacement Therapy Product Liability multidistrict litigation (MDL). U.S. District Judge Matthew K. Kennelly selected the case of Tracy Garner and the case of John Debroka Jr. to serve as bellwethers. Garner claims to have had a heart attack after initiating testosterone therapy with Lilly’s Axiron. Debroka alleges he developed deep vein thrombosis, a blood clot deep in the veins, after taking ... Read More