A testosterone products lawsuit was filed against Eli Lilly and related companies over allegations that the drug makers’ testosterone products caused serious side effects.

Plaintiff Herbert Hussemann was prescribed AndroGel and Axiron in 2012, according to the testosterone products lawsuit. His physicians prescribed Hussemann the drugs after he asked them about a condition called “low-T.”

Hussemann had learned about low-T from direct-to-consumer drug marketing materials, according to the testosterone products lawsuit. Hussemann suffered a heart attack earlier this year, allegedly due to the testosterone products he was prescribed.

To support this allegation, the testosterone products lawsuit cites several studies, as well as action by government regulators. Among them, a 2013 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that found that men taking testosterone products including low-T drugs had an increased rate of myocardial infarctions — a type of heart attack caused by blood clots — as well as other clot-related problems including stroke. Similar studies date back at least to 1995, when it was demonstrated that testosterone products can alter blood chemistry, thickening the blood and making it easier to clot inside the body.

Hussemann’s testosterone products lawsuit also alleges that not only were the makers of AndroGel and Axiron aware, or reasonably should have been aware, that these drugs could cause heart attacks, but that the drug makers continued to aggressively market the drugs in spite of the danger.

To support this allegation, Hussemann’s testosterone products lawsuit cited whistleblower lawsuits alleging that the makers of low-T drugs were encouraging off-label use of their products. Off-label use is using a drug for purposes other than those approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Marketing a drug for off-label use is illegal because it means the FDA has not approved the drug’s use for that purpose. Allegedly, drug makers were promoting testosterone products to treat depression, sexual dysfunction, and other diseases they were not approved to treat.

The allegations of aggressive marketing extend beyond alleged off-label promotion. In 2013, Ely Lilly spent $119 million to advertise AndroGel. Of that, the company spent $64 million on direct-to-consumer advertising like the ads that ultimately convinced Hussemann to talk to his doctor. A separate 2013 article published in JAMA found that as many as a quarter of men who had been prescribed testosterone products like AndroGel never even had their testosterone levels tested.

The Testosterone Products Lawsuit is Herbert Hussemann, et al. v. Eli Lilly and Company, et al., Case No. 8475, within the larger testosterone products MDL In Re: Testosterone Replacement Therapy Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2545, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.