A Rhode Island man filed a lawsuit against AbbVie Inc. and Abbott Laboratories alleging that his use of the testosterone drug AndroGel caused him to suffer serious heart problems.

Plaintiff Kenneth A. was diagnosed by his physician with a testosterone deficiency, according to his lawsuit. He says he had seen advertisements from the defendants that described his symptoms as “low-T.”

Other lawsuits and medical experts assert that testosterone drug manufacturers created a scare campaign aimed at older men, intended to make them believe they were suffering from a medical condition rather than just the effects of aging.

It was with that backdrop that Kenneth says he agreed to try prescription AndroGel. He says in the lawsuit that he believed it would improve his life.

Kenneth later suffered a heart attack that his lawsuit says was caused by AndroGel. He notes that the defendants portrayed their drug as safe, without noting such risks as heart attack.

The lawsuit also says the advertisements used to promote the drug were misleading, and he alleges that they crossed the line into false advertising. Kenneth maintains that he never would have used the product if he had known the risks.

Overview of Low Testosterone Product Complications

After being released in in 2000, AndroGel became one of the most popular low-T products in the United States. AndroGel and many other testosterone drugs were touted as miracle cures to older men with libido problems.

While AndroGel and other testosterone products can be used to treat conditions such as hypongonadism, doctors have been discouraged from prescribing them for symptoms related to the aging process.

In December 2013 the New England Journal of Medicine had released a study which found that older men with heart conditions were put at significant risk when using low-T products. A January 2014 issue of PloSOne found that older men were susceptible to cardiac risks regardless of whether they had per-exisiting heart conditions. Younger men with heart conditions were also found to be at risk.

The lawsuit accuses AbbVie and Abbott of negligence, false advertising, concealing information, and misrepresenting a product.

More than 3,000 low-T lawsuits have been filed, many of which are consolidated in a multidistrict litigation (MDL).

This Testosterone Product Lawsuit is Case No. 1:14-cv-00772, in the U.S. District Court of Illinois, Eastern Division.