A Texas widow has filed a wrongful death lawsuit and has joined the multidistrict litigation against both Abbott Laboratories and its former subsidiary AbbVie for allegedly misrepresenting the testosterone gel AndroGel as safe.

Plaintiff Paula D. claims in the AndroGel low-t drug lawsuit that her husband suffered a fatal heart attack at age 50 after taking the prescribed AndroGel low-t therapy treatment during the period of January 2012 through Oct. 30, 2012 to treat his “low testosterone.” The AndroGel lawsuit further alleges that he relied on claims made by AndroGel manufacturers that AndroGel had been clinically shown to safely and effectively raise testosterone levels.

According to the testosterone product lawsuit and other t-gel lawsuits, the pharmaceutical companies purposely deceived the medical community and consumers by creating the impression that AndroGel was a safe and effective treatment for low testosterone. In addition, they allegedly intentionally and recklessly marketed AndroGel as a viable treatment for low testosterone to the medical community, withholding facts about life-threatening health risks associated with the use of the drug.

AbbVie was formerly part of Abbott Laboratories and manufactures AndroGel as a treatment option for low testosterone or “low-t.” AndroGel is a prescription product used for daily testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). The testosterone gel is applied to the skin of the shoulders and upper arms.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved AndroGel in 2000 for the treatment of adult males who have low or no testosterone (a condition called hypogonadism) in conjunction with an associated medical condition such as failure of the testicles to produce testosterone, genetic problems, or chemotherapy.

AndroGel Lawsuits

A growing number of men throughout the United States are now pursuing testosterone gel lawsuits with claims involving heart attacks, strokes or wrongful deaths that may have been caused by side effects of testosterone treatments like AndroGel.

Many of these AndroGel lawsuits claim that Abbott Laboratories never warned patients or doctors about the increased risk of serious cardiac events that may occur with use of AndroGel, despite knowing that testosterone therapies were linked to increased rates of heart attack, stroke and death. The plaintiffs commonly claim that Abbott disregarded the public’s safety by failing to provide warnings for these risks and did so for the primary purpose of increasing profits.

Paula is seeking general and special damages, wrongful death and survival damages, and equitable relief for the allegedly negligent misrepresentation of the side effects of AndroGel and all reasonable court costs. She has demanded a jury trial for this case.

The  AndroGel Testosterone Product Lawsuit is Case No. 1:14-cv-08267, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.