Testosterone lawsuits moved forward as attorneys met with the federal judge presiding over the testosterone multidistrict litigation, or MDL. It is expected that the court will review competing proposals concerning the coordination of testosterone product lawsuits.

Previously, presiding U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly from the Northern District of Illinois asked both parties to collaborate on the coordination of lawsuits, both from the federal and state courts. The parties in the testosterone product MDL filed a joint status report on Dec. 4, which stated that they were unable to agree on a plan of coordination.

The defendants suggested that Judge Kennelly should issue a coordination order which would make the discovery burdens lighter for the defendants. It would also avoid scheduling conflicts for discoveries.

The attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the testosterone product lawsuits argued that the coordination order was unnecessary because it would be difficult to enforce. If Judge Kennelly agreed with the defendants in this manner, the plaintiffs have a backup proposal that would be more flexible and orderly for the coordination.

The plaintiffs said in their submission to Judge Kennelly that the defendants’ proposal would involve “out-of-sequence” discovery. Additionally, they said the defendants’ plan would place an unnecessary burden on the plaintiffs and attorneys.

Both parties met with Judge Kennelly last week to determine the coordination of testosterone product lawsuits.

A small number of AndroGel lawsuits will be used in bellwether trials in late 2016 and early 2017. Bellwether trials are used to help all parties better decide what evidence and testimony to include in the trials by “testing” them on actual juries.

What happens in the testosterone bellwether trials does not determine the outcome of other testosterone product lawsuits, but it may help both sides find their strengths and weaknesses.

Tesosterone Drug Lawsuit Allegations

Testosterone drug lawsuits claim that testosterone manufacturers hid potential side effects from users. Testosterone product side effects that have been listed in testosterone drug lawsuits include heart attack, stroke, pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis, and even death.

New studies have been published that suggest men who take testosterone are more likely to have a heart attack or stroke. One study found that men who took testosterone increased their chance of heart attack, stroke, and death by almost 30 percent.

The sales of testosterone products have quickly grown over the past several years, in spite of the fact that little is known about long-term testosterone side effects.

Millions of prescriptions are written for “low-t” treatments each year. It has been suggested that men who do not truly need the treatment are using testosterone products without discernible benefit, which may put them at greater risk for testosterone product side effects. 

Testosterone drug lawsuits have been filed against the manufacturers of AndroGel, Axiron, Bio-T-Gel, Delatestryl, Fortesta, Testim, and other testosterone creams, injections, gels and patches, claiming that they failed to warn against potentially dangerous side effects.

All testosterone drug lawsuits regarding testosterone drugs, gels, creams, and patches have been consolidated into a testosterone MDL since June. More than 250 testosterone product lawsuits are part of this testosterone MDL. Other testosterone drug lawsuits are pending in other state court systems, as well.