Almost 2,000 testosterone lawsuits filed as part of the multidistrict litigation (MDL) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

The number is up from 1,500 two months ago. The testosterone drug lawsuits have been centralized into an MDL in one federal court in Illinois since last year, where they are overseen by Judge Matthew F. Kennelly.

All of the low-t drug lawsuits accuse drug-makers of failing to warn about testosterone side effects while aggressively marketing testosterone for “low-t,” a vague collection of symptoms that occur as a natural part of aging — not hypogonadism, the only condition testosterone therapy is approved to treat.

Plaintiffs who have filed lawsuits in the low-t drug MDL claim that testosterone therapy companies like AbbVie and Eli Lilly & Co. manufactured and sold products that led men taking them to suffer serious health problems including stroke, heart attack, and death.

Low-T Status Conference Report

In a recent joint status report submitted on July 17, plaintiffs who filed AndroGel lawsuits are currently requesting Judge Kennelly to compel AbbVie’s production of a series of files and are also asking that the drug makers involved in these low-t drug lawsuits produce sales call notes made as the testosterone therapy products were being aggressively marketed to physicians.

According to court documents, the company has only submitted one custodial file on July 10.

Additionally, AbbVie asked that plaintiffs give a proposed time frame by Aug. 15 for beginning the first 10 depositions. Both parties are also reviewing a defense fact sheet, which plaintiffs say should contain all call notes.

These notes “will describe the conversations and communications by and between AbbVie drug sales representatives and the thousands of doctors that prescribed AndroGel.”

AbbVie counters that producing call notes across all cases will be a laborious and time-consuming undertaking, and the results should have no bearing on choosing testosterone product lawsuits for bellwether trials.

Testosterone Bellwether Trials

Both defendants and plaintiffs involved in the testosterone therapy litigation continue to meet on a regular basis to assess progress in the discovery process, document production requests and the development of a fact sheet. It should also be noted that a handful of AndroGel lawsuits are currently being readied for early trial.

These bellwether cases involving AbbVie’s popular testosterone therapy drug have been selected for a hearing so that they can help plaintiffs and defendants measure how juries are likely to evaluate the sorts of testimony, evidence and legal arguments that are almost certain to be common to a large number of other low-t drug lawsuits.

Bellwether trials are representative cases chosen from the mass litigation, selected by both parties. At least eight AndroGel lawsuits involving blood clot related complications and eight heart injuries will be selected by Oct. 31.

Six of these low-t drug lawsuits are scheduled to go before a jury by March 2016. The outcomes of these early testosterone lawsuits may help predict whether settlement negotiations are likely to take place.