A global settlement between pharmaceutical company AbbiVie and plaintiffs following thousands of lawsuits against the company. These lawsuits are because of the their testosterone medication, AndroGel. This lawsuit that has been in the working since 2014 would end the multidistrict litigation if they reach a settlement. The other defendants in the case are Endo Pharmaceuticals and Allergen who came to a settlement for their medications Testin and AndroDerm.
Testosterone therapy is used to treat low testosterone levels in men. Low-T can cause depression, lack of sex drive and fatigue so the therapy is supposed to combat all of this. Yet, there’s been arguments that “Low-T” isn’t something that is a disease but a result of getting older. Numerous lawsuits were filed against AbbieVie because there were cases of stroke, heart attack and blood clots due to AndroGel.
The lawsuits state that the company failed to disclose the major health risks associated with Andro-Gel. This product was not approved by the FDA.
In 2015 the company was warned to provide information of complications that weren’t listed. They also demanded that the product be tested in New studies to see if it was safe.
During the past six years the company has returned back and forth to court. They won four of the cases and their plaintiffs won two. They won large sums of money in their settlement.
As of September 10 Judge Matthew Kennelly ordered a stay while the parties tried to reach a global settlement. They are ordered to disclose any settlements they come to. Deadlines are currently suspended and they must disclose all settlement talks that are in progress.
AbbieVie is also facing a lawsuit for using anti-generic campaigns to keep consumers from other options. They had to pay $448 million to consumers who paid too much for AndroGel.
AbbieVie has more lawsuits against them than the other companies did but that doesn’t mean that plaintiffs will receive a larger sum of money when the settlement is reached. While there are hundreds of cases already against the company attorneys are accepting lawsuits that haven’t yet been filed. Spouses of loved ones that have died because of the product are also able to sue the company.
In 2017 AndroGel sales took a nosedive of 15% of its sales from 2016. It is expected to even more of a decline in 2018. Perhaps $475 million is loss.
Men, especially those who used the product are angry that AbbieVie’s marketers made-up the condition “Low-T” when realistically men’s bodies were responding to aging and its natural affects. Claim that the manufacturers marketed the therapy for a made-up condition called “Low-T” or low testosterone. Rather than stating the truth they constantly campaigned and provided information that these men were suffering with a medical condition that needed treatment from the “illness” to be corrected when in fact that wasn’t what it was. Therefore their fraudulent misrepresentation led men to believe something was wrong with them. Many have suffered because of this.
