Five testosterone lawsuits against Abbott Laboratories (ABT) and it’s subsidiary, AbbVie, Inc, were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois last week. The plaintiffs in these testosterone lawsuits alleged that they suffered cardiovascular injuries after using AndroGel, a topical testosterone gel prescribed to men diagnosed with low testosterone levels.
“More testosterone lawsuits are expected to be filed as AndroGel and other popular testosterone treatments, such as Axiron, Androderm, Android, Fortesta, Striant, Testim, Testopel, and Testred, have been linked to causing serious cardiovascular problems in consumers,” commented Brandon Bogle, a testosterone heart attack lawyer with the Levin, Papantonio law firm.
Recent studies have linked the use of AndroGel and other testosterone treatments to an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and even death, including a Veterans Affairs study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Researchers observed a group of 8,700 senior veterans treated with prescription testosterone products and collected data on how the individuals reacted to testosterone treatments. Within three years of the study’s inception, approximately twenty-six percent of those using a testosterone treatment experienced cardiovascular issues.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced earlier this month that it was launching an investigation into the link between testosterone and an increased risk of cardiovascular injuries. The FDA was prompted to perform this investigation after the aforementioned JAMA study was published along with another recent study which found a doubling of heart attack risk among younger men with pre-existing cardiovascular problems and men 65 years of age and older with no pre-existing heart problems that had been treated with testosterone products.
Krysta is a writer and researcher with Ring of Fire. Follow her on Twitter @KrystaLoera.