October 2, 2014 — A man who suffered a heart attack after using Axiron (testosterone gel) has filed a lawsuit, according to the New Jersey Law Journal.
The plaintiff, Patrick Miller, is a resident of Hopatcong, New Jersey. He was 54 years old when his doctor prescribed Axiron in September 2012. The next month, he had a heart attack.
The lawsuit accuses Eli Lilly & Co. of selling a defective drug and failing to warn about cardiovascular side effects.
Eli Lilly is accused of engaging in an aggressive “disease awareness campaign” aimed at convincing middle-aged men that they might have low testosterone (“Low T”) if they experienced symptoms like fatigue, erectile dysfunction, depressed mood, or loss of muscle mass.
According to the complaint:
“[Eli Lilly] manufactured, sold and promoted these drugs to treat a non-existent medical condition that the company calls ‘Low T’ … In essence, the defendant marketed and sold testosterone as a lifestyle drug meant to make men feel younger and increase libido.”
The lawsuit was filed in state court in New Jersey. Hundreds of similar lawsuits have been filed by men who were injured by testosterone replacement products. Most of these cases have been centralized in federal court in Illinois since June.
The litigation has grown rapidly since the FDA began investigating cardiovascular side effects in January. Last month, an advisory panel of experts warned that there was no clear benefit for using testosterone for “age-related hypogonadism,” but evidence of risks was also inconclusive.