The plaintiff, Jeffrey Konrad, filed the lawsuit against AbbVie about 5 years after he suffered a heart attack while using AndroGel. He accused AbbVie of aggressively advertising AndroGel for middle-aged men without mentioning the risk of cardiovascular side effects.
After a 2-week trial, the jury in Illinois awarded Konrad $140,000 in compensation — including $40,000 for medical costs and $100,000 for pain and suffering — plus $140 million in punitive damages.
In July 2017, another federal jury in Illinois awarded $150 million in punitive damages to Jesse Mitchell, a man from Oregon who had a heart attack in 2012 after taking AndroGel for 4 years.
Last year, the FDA ordered AbbVie and other testosterone manufacturers to add stronger warnings about cardiovascular side effects and the potential risk of abuse:
Reported serious adverse outcomes include heart attack, heart failure, stroke, depression, hostility, aggression, liver toxicity, and male infertility. Individuals abusing high doses of testosterone have also reported withdrawal symptoms, such as depression, fatigue, irritability, loss of appetite, decreased libido, and insomnia.
Over 6,000 lawsuits have been filed by men who had a heart attack, stroke, or died after using testosterone products. U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly has set trial dates in January and March 2018 for men who were injured by Eli Lilly’s testosterone treatment Axiron
Testosterone lawsuits are centralized in a federal Multi-District Litigation (MDL No. 2545 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois — In RE: Konrad v. AbbVie Inc. — Case No. 1:15-cv-00966.
Source: 2nd Bellwether Jury Says AbbVie Owes AndroGel User $140M