Several pharmaceutical companies filed a motion with the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation have their testosterone lawsuits centralize in the Northern District of Illinois . These 74 testosterone products lawsuits allege that the testosterone medications have lead to heart attacks and strokes in men.

The companies, which include AbbVie Inc., Abbott Laboratories, Eli Lilly and Company, Lilly USA LLC and Endo Pharmaceuticals, argued that “centralizing the cases for coordinated pre-trial proceedings would also be for the convenience of the parties and witnesses, and it would promote the just and efficient conduct of these actions.”

The pharmaceutical companies said that “without the establishment of a coordinated proceeding, the parties and judiciary will face inconsistent rulings, duplicative discovery, and likely scheduling conflicts in attempting to litigate these cases effectively and efficiently.”

There are currently 74 testosterone replacement therapy lawsuits pending in seven different federal courts, with 56 of those cases consolidated in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois before Judge Matthew F. Kennelly.

Men who have low or no testosterone have a condition called hypogonadism. This condition also increases the the risk for heart-related problems.

On Jan. 31, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it was investigating the risk of stroke, heart attack and death in men taking FDA-approved testosterone replacement therapies. The announcement came after two studies suggested an increased risk in cardiovascular events among groups of men who were prescribed testosterone replacement therapies.

After the announcement, testosterone products lawsuits began to be filed by individuals who claimed that they were injured by those products. According to the companies, the allegations are very similar. “They all allege the FDA’s announcement, the two recent studies, and the claim that the plaintiff was treated with one or more testosterone replacement therapy medications and suffered a heart attack, stroke, or other ailment.”

A reason the majority of plaintiffs have chosen the Northern District of Illinois as the venue for their cases is because it’s the home of AbbVie, the maker of AndroGel, which has the leading share of the U.S. testosterone replacement market share at approximately 60 percent.

The Androgel lawsuit is In Re: AndroGel Product Liability Litigation, Case No. 2545, before the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.