A testosterone product lawsuit was filed against AndroGel maker AbbVie Inc. by a Virginia man who alleges he developed life-threatening heart complications after using the low-T treatment.

Based on the defendant’s advertisements, plaintiff Herbert J. and his wife said they believed he needed the assistance of AndroGel after concluding his testosterone levels were declining.

Herbert was prescribed AndroGel in July 2012 and stayed on it until March 2014. His testosterone product lawsuit said despite having no prior history of cardiac complications or blood-clotting tendencies he suffered near-fatal side effects of AndroGel.

In the last month of his AndroGel prescription, Herbert said he was suffering from shortness of breath among other problems. He was hospitalized with bilateral pulmonary emboli, according to his low-T lawsuit.

At the time he was diagnosed with his blood clot injury, he was reportedly in Afghanistan on a contract job for the U.S. Army and had to be medically evacuated from America.

A day later, Herbert was successfully transferred to an American hospital and continued with anticoagulant treatment. While he survived the ordeal, he still continues to suffer from physical and psychological effects of the blood clot injury, according to the testosterone product lawsuit.

The AndroGel lawsuit alleges AbbVie did not mention blood clot injuries on the product’s label, nor had the defendant notified the plaintiff’s physician about the possibility. The low-T lawsuit said Herbert never would have used AndroGel if he had known about the possibility of blood clot injuries.

The testosterone products side effects lawsuit alleges negligence, false advertising, concealing information, and misrepresenting a product.

This Testosterone Product Lawsuit has joined the multidistrict litigation titled In Re: Testosterone Replacement Therapy Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2545, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.

Overview of Low Testosterone Products

Lawsuits have alleged that drug companies aimed a misleading marketing campaign targeting the middle-aged and elderly men of the United States, making them believe that they needed to use low-T product to preserve their testosterone levels. Various symptoms that indicated testosterone loss in the advertisements including fatigue, weight gain, loss of libido, and irritability. However, these symptoms are merely signs of aging.

AndroGel was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2000, and like many of these low-T products, it was meant to treat a rare condition called hypogonadism and other medically-proven testosterone deficiencies.

However, testosterone product lawsuits allege most of the prescriptions written were unnecessary and many consumers ultimately suffered blood clot injuries.

Thousands of men across the United States have filed testosterone product lawsuits against AbbVie and other manufacturing companies over blood clot injuries they allegedly suffered from taking AndroGel and other low-T products.