Men across the country who used testosterone replacement products like AndroGel for low-T are now pursing lawsuits against the drug manufacturing companies, alleging that the testosterone gels, creams, patches and injections caused them to suffer serious and potentially life-threatening side effects like heart attack and stroke. If you or a loved one used a low-T treatment like AndroGel in the past, and you have since experienced a heart attack, stroke, or another major medical event, contact an experienced AndroGel attorney today to explore your possible compensation options.
Originally designed to treat a testosterone deficiency related to hypogonadism, the use of AndroGel and other low-T treatments has increased dramatically in recent years, as TRT manufacturers have turned to direct-to-consumer advertisements and aggressive marketing campaigns to generate a market for the treatment of low testosterone. Unfortunately, this has resulted in healthy men across the country being prescribed testosterone therapy products like AndroGel in response to symptoms like weight gain, diminished sex drive, fatigue, and other natural signs of aging experienced by all men at certain times. In June 2013, Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman of Georgetown University Medical Center told USA Today that TRT “offers no proven benefits for healthy men. Low T syndrome is invented by pharmaceutical companies to sell treatment products.”
The truth about “low-T” is that it’s completely natural for testosterone levels to decrease as men age, falling about 1% per year after the age of 30, and resulting in symptoms that mimic a testosterone deficiency. What this has resulted in is men with testosterone levels that are considered normal being prescribed treatments like AndroGel for low testosterone levels when they have no medical need for testosterone therapy, which can have serious and potentially deadly health consequences. In a 2014 study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, researchers found that low-T therapy was associated with double the risk of heart attacks among men over 65, and nearly triple the risk among younger men with a history of heart disease. That same year, the FDA warned that it was “investigating the risk of stroke, heart attack, and death in men taking FDA-approved testosterone products.”
In a 2014 study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, researchers found that low-T therapy was associated with double the risk of heart attacks among men over 65, and nearly triple the risk among younger men with a history of heart disease.
AndroGel is a topical testosterone gel approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2000, as a treatment for low testosterone associated with hypogonadism, a medical condition occurring when the body doesn’t produce enough testosterone or has an impaired ability to produce sperm, or both. AndroGel is sold by AbbVie Inc., a spin-off of pharmaceutical giant Abbott Laboratories, and has become a blockbuster testosterone drug in recent years, with annual sales in excess of $1 billion. Unfortunately, this widespread use of AndroGel and other low-T treatments may expose men to a risk of severe and possibly even life-threatening side effects, about which many men remain unaware, due to inadequate warnings from the drug manufacturers.
An AndroGel injury lawsuit can help cover the cost of:
The testosterone replacement therapy litigation is still in its early stages, but it is ultimately expected that thousands of TRT lawsuits will be filed in state and federal courts across the country, on behalf of men who suffered heart attacks, strokes and other complications from low-T treatments. All of the testosterone therapy lawsuits involve similar allegations that the drug manufacturing companies failed to provide adequate warnings to consumers and the medical community about the potential for AndroGel and other low-T products to cause heart attack, stroke and other side effects in users. As part of the coordinated discovery in the testosterone therapy MDL, a small group of AndroGel injury lawsuits are being prepared for early trial dates in 2016.
Compensation for alleged AndroGel side effects may be available through a testosterone therapy lawsuit, and more than a dozen product liability lawsuits have already been brought against the makers of testosterone products like AndroGel and Testim, alleging heart attacks, strokes and other injuries from the low-T treatments. In June 2014, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) centralized all federal testosterone therapy lawsuits before one judge for coordinated pretrial proceedings as part of an MDL.
