A man has filed a Cialis and skin cancer lawsuit against the manufacturers of Cialis, alleging the drugs led to his diagnosis of a severe skin cancer known as melanoma.

Plaintiff Terry R. filed the Cialis and skin cancer lawsuit in California federal court, joining a growing multidistrict litigation (MDL) against the company. Defendant Eli Lilly and Company face the current complaint.

According to the Cialis and skin cancer lawsuit, Terry is a resident of King City, Calif. He began ingesting Cialis in March 2009 until December 2012. He was later diagnosed with melanoma on Oct. 10, 2012, the lawsuit states.

The Cialis and skin cancer lawsuit was filed on multiple counts including negligence; gross negligence; negligence per se; Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices including unfairness, fraud, and unlawfulness; defective design; failure to warn, failure to test, breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty, fraudulent misrepresentation, fraud and deceit, among others.

Overview: Viagra, Cialis and Skin Cancer

Studies have recently found a link between a man’s risk for developing a dangerous form of cancer known as melanoma and erectile dysfunction medications such as Cilais, Viagra and Levitra.

According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, melanoma is the most dangerous kind of skin cancer that develops when “unrepaired DNA damage to skin cells (most often caused by ultraviolet radiation from sunshine or tanning beds) triggers mutations (genetic defects) that lead the skin cells to multiple rapidly and form malignant tumors.”

However, this link between erectile dysfunction medication and melanoma could have a wide impact as nearly 23 million men have been prescribed Viagra around the world. Viagra was first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1998.

The link between melanoma and the popular virility drugs is a new discovery, but that is not to say that there had not been other adverse side effects such as hearing loss and vision complications also associated with the medication.

The study was published by the Harvard School of Public Health and published in a peer-reviewed medical journal, the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study found that in men who use Viagra had a much higher risk for developing melanoma. These findings were held even with other risk factors being accounted for, the study iterates. These factors included things like a patient’s UV ray intensity, family history of melanoma and sun exposure.

The study also accounted that for men who use Viagra, they are 84 percent more likely to develop the dangerous form of skin cancer than men who do not use erectile dysfunction medications.

According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, tumors of the skin start in melanocytes, pigment producing cells on the basal layer of the epidermis layer of the skin. Early diagnosis and treatment can almost always cure melanoma.

However, a late diagnosis can allow the cancer to advance and spread reaching other parts of the body. This makes the cancer much more difficult to treat.

The Cialis and Skin Cancer Lawsuit is Case No. 3:18-cv-01773-RS, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division.