Low Testosterone Therapy

Men who received testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) drugs such as AndroGel, Fortesta, Androderm and Striant are filing litigations after they experienced strokes, blood clots and heart attacks. 

If you or a member of your family suffered a cardiovascular issue or any other serious side effect after taking any TRT medication, our lawyers could help you seek proper compensation in court. 

What is Testosterone Replacement Therapy and why is it Dangerous?

Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) is a hormone therapy used to treat men with unnatural levels of this androgen, a condition known as “low testosterone” or Low-T. Symptoms of this conditions include a subjective feeling of tiredness, chronic fatigue, lack of energy, reduced libido which may lead to erectile dysfunction, as well as many other unwanted physical or psychological changes such as decreased body hair, fragile bones and depression. However, in most instances, no medical condition is causing these symptoms other than just aging or stress, and a TRT is thus seldom appropriate.

The first testosterone transdermal patch hit the market in 1993, and in 2000 the FDA approved the first testosterone gel to treat Low-T. In just a few years, several pharmaceutical companies such as AbbVie (a spin-off of Abbott), GlaxoSmithKline and Actavis started flooding the market with their products, the most famous of which were the blockbuster AndroGel, Testim, Striant and Fortesta. These products quickly started being overprescribed to older men who simply wished to counter the natural signs of aging, and to younger men who tried to artificially enhance muscle mass and strength.

Inappropriate Low-T treatment, however, is associated with a vast plethora of extremely dangerous side effects that have been largely investigated by modern medicine. Some of these adverse reactions can even threaten the very life of the patient since steroid therapy may thicken the blood and increase the risk of heart attacks by up to 30 percent.

Why Are Low-T Litigations Being Pursued?

In 2006, two whistleblower managers decided to sue AbbVie (formerly Solvay) and provided insider information about how the company allegedly violated the False Claims Act by paying kickbacks to health care providers to aggressively market AndroGel for off-label uses. The medication’s sales ads contained misleading information that presented it as a treatment of “Age-associated hypogonadal causes,” suggesting how men over 65 had lower testosterone levels than men aged 30-35.

Androgen-based drugs, however, were only approved by FDA for use in men who have Low-T levels in conjunction with an associated medical condition, and aging cannot be, by any means, defined as a medical condition. Solvay earned more than $300 million with AndroGel sales in 2006 by touting that five million men in the United States suffered from hypogonadism, without any scientific research to back up this claim.

Are You Eligible For Compensation?

All patients who suffered an injury after receiving an inappropriate TRT prescription could be eligible for compensation and should file a lawsuit. According to recent court claims, the manufacturers of these products failed to warn the public of the dangers of testosterone pills (Striant), gels (AndroGel, Testim, Fortesta and Axiron), patches (Androderm), injections (Depo-Testosterone and Delatestryl), and implants (Testopel). Victim’s attorneys allege that defendants misrepresented those medicines as safe and effective for age-related Low-T levels despite a serious risk of life-threatening adverse reactions including thromboembolic events and heart attacks.

The pharmaceutical companies deliberately ignored those potential risks in their aggressive advertising campaign in order to convince young and old men to take anabolic steroids even when they were not recommended. Some of the biggest players among the Big Pharma even paid millions of dollars to fund physician education that promoted the extended use of androgen-based medications in off-label conditions such as diabetes, osteoporosis, depression, sexual dysfunction and even HIV and obesity.

To date, more than 1,000 testosterone lawsuit cases have been centralized in the AndroGel Products Liability Litigation MDL No. 2545 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, overseen by Judge Matthew F. Kennelly. The Multidistrict Litigation consolidated all those actions currently pending against Abbott, AbbVie, Pfizer, Lily, GSK, Auxilium Labs and many others.