Eli Lilly & Co. could be facing a possible multidistrict litigation (MDL) in Cymbalta withdrawal lawsuits. Currently, hundreds of Americans are suing Eli Lily & Co. for the injuries they suffered after stopping the antidepressant.

As of now, over 28 Cymbalta withdrawal lawsuits have been filed in 22 federal courts, under 21 different judges. The plaintiffs and their lawsuits have requested that the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) to consolidate these Cymbalta lawsuits in a California federal court.

These potential plaintiffs allege that they experienced severe withdrawal symptoms after their Cymbalta prescription ended. The symptoms reported from Cymbalta withdrawal include: dizziness, nausea, headache, brain zaps, fatigue, vomiting, irritability, and others. Furthermore, the plaintiffs stated that these symptoms could occur within 12 hours of missing a single dose.

The petition has been formally filed with the JPML, with legal experts expecting that hundreds of Cymbalta withdrawal will be filed as the litigation continues. Legal experts also predict the MDL formation request to be approved, due to the similar facts and allegations between the Cymbalta withdrawal symptom lawsuits. If MDL status is granted, then these Cymbalta lawsuits will be consolidated under one judge with several bellwether trials prepared to represent the MDL.

The purpose of an MDL formation is to further the efficiency of the process by reducing the chance of duplicate discovery, avoid conflicting rulings from different judges, and to ultimately serve to the convenience of the parties. A majority of these Cymbalta lawsuits will be pertaining to product liability charges like: negligence, concealing information, and misrepresenting a product.

Overview of Cymbalta Withdrawal Complications

Cymbalta is a part of the famous drug family the SNRIs (serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors), which are primarily used to treat mental disorders. SNRIs are the younger cousins of SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) and currently do not have a lot of data available to scientists.

Eli Lilly has also admitted that they are not entirely sure how SNRI medications work, which means that they do not understand why these alleged withdrawal symptoms may be occurring.

This drug was approved by the FDA in 2004, to treat major depression disorder and was later approved to treat general anxiety disorder in 2007. Eli Lilly had allegedly developed Cymbalta after its patent on Prozac expired, in order to prevent themselves from losing profits that would be lost from competing generic Prozac. While popular amongst patients, Eli Lilly is now facing criticism for exaggerating the drug’s efficiency and understating the severity of the withdrawal symptoms, or not mentioning them at all.

However, Eli Lilly argued that Cymbalta’s label does explicitly state that there are withdrawal symptoms that can occur patients stop taking the drug, but that they are very rare — only affecting one percent of patients. Additionally, Eli Lilly’s own clinical studies indicate that patients are likely to suffer Cymbalta withdrawal symptoms, with 44.3 percent of these patients exhibiting side effects after they stopped using Cymbalta.

One of the most severe Cymbalta withdrawal symptoms reported are “brain zaps,” which literally feel like electric shocks occurring in the brain. This Cymbalta side effect is often followed by severe dizziness and painful headaches, with injury reports suggesting that these withdrawal symptoms are not as rare as the drug’s label claims.