An low-T drug lawsuit has joined the larger multidistrict litigation against testosterone drug manufacturers.

Plaintiff Bobby T. of Bridge City, Texas, has joined the massive litigation against drugmaker AbbVie. Inc, and related companies. Bobby’s low-T drug lawsuit alleges that he took the drug AndroGel from August through October of 2002, when he suffered a stroke.

In cases where large numbers of similar lawsuits have been filed, the legal system can use a process called a multi-district litigation, or MDL, to streamline the judicial process. Once the ball is rolling on an MDL, individual cases can join in a relatively simple process.

Low-T Lawsuits

In the larger low-T drug MDL that Bobby’s lawsuit joined, plaintiffs have alleged that the makers of testosterone products have engaged in a process called “disease mongering.” Disease mongering is a process where drug companies invent a treatment for a relatively benign or common medical variation, then campaign to the public and medical communities to convince them that there is a serious medical problem that requires their treatment.

Many of the low-t lawsuits allege that the makers of the testosterone products engaged in a marketing campaign to present the normal symptoms of declining testosterone levels in aging males as “low-T.”

Like this low-T drug lawsuit, many other cases also allege that testosterone products can cause a host of dangerous complications. The alleged complications of low-T drugs may include pulmonary embolism, stroke, and certain types of heart attacks.

The conditions stem from blood clots lodging in blood vessels, blocking the flow of blood to vital organs like the lungs, brain, and heart. Any of these conditions may be painful, crippling, or fatal depending on the severity of the event.

Low-T drug lawsuits like Bobby’s typically seek to recoup the costs of medical care, as well as costs like lost wages and lost income potential in cases where patients are permanently injured. Many of the low-T lawsuits claim that the makers of these drugs are liable on the grounds that their actions were negligent and fraudulent, and that the company unjustly enriched themselves by promoting dangerous, inherently defect drugs while not adequately warning the public of the risks associated with testosterone products.

The Low-T Drug Lawsuit is In Re: Testosterone Replacement Therapy Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2545, consolidated in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.