Lawsuits Claim Testosterone Unsafe

Chicago, ILAs more men become aware of serious testosterone therapy side effects and stop taking the drug, more testosterone lawsuits are filed. Sadly, some men didn’t stop the drug in time.

One family believes testosterone was the cause of their father’s death. The man died from a heart attack in April 2012. He took AndroGel for about four months and later Axiron until his death. According to court documents, his death was completely unexpected; he was in his early 60s and had no history of heart problems or heart disease.

When their father passed away, the family didn’t think that the testosterone drugs could be related to his heart attack. Recently, the plaintiff (his son) became aware of an FDA warning and several studies associating testosterone therapy with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. He subsequently filed a testosterone lawsuit against the makers of AndroGel and Axiron.

The lawsuit alleges that the testosterone manufacturers failed to provide adequate safety warnings with their products, and misrepresented their products as being free from serious side effects. The plaintiff - who is also the executor of his father’s estate - argues that, if the AndroGel and Axiron makers properly disclosed the risks associated with testosterone replacement therapy, his father might be alive today, either by not taking the drugs at all or taking a lower dose for a shorter period of time.

Meanwhile, another testosterone case was filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (1:14-cv-02495) against AbbVie Inc., Abbott Laboratories, Lily USA Inc., and Eli Lilly and Company. The lawsuit alleges that the testosterone manufacturers aggressively marketed their products to the extent that they misled customers to the drug’s safety and efficacy, causing some men to suffer serious injuries, and possibly even death.

In yet another case, a Texas man filed a product liability personal injury lawsuit at the beginning of June against AbbVie, Inc. and Abbott Laboratories. David Lyon claims that AndroGel caused him to have a heart attack; the drugmakers misled consumers that it was safe and withheld important information from consumers and the medical community about the risk of heart attack and other serious problems associated with testosterone.

Lyon was 72 years old when he was prescribed AndroGel in January 2005 for apparently low testosterone. (Testosterone decreases naturally as one gets older.) He had no history of heart problems until he had a myocardial infarction (heart attack) 10 months after taking the drug. His lawsuit claims that the severe injuries impacted both his personal and professional life.

Lyon’s lawsuit alleges that AbbVie duped men of a made-up disease known as “Low-T.” In Lyon’s case he was experiencing the normal effects of aging: some fatigue and lowered libido and not hypogonadism, a condition that causes abnormally low testosterone levels. According to The Legal Examiner, the lawsuit claims that AbbVie convinced men to get a blood test to decide whether they need testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), despite the fact that the medical community generally believes that such tests are unreliable in determining whether someone is suffering from low testosterone.

Lyon’s testosterone lawsuit states failure to warn, breach of warranty, negligence, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and seeks compensatory and punitive damages.