Jury Finds AbbVie Not Liable in AndroGel Injury Suit
The verdict in the lawsuit by Robert Nolte was the third to date in federal court in litigation over AndroGel, a drug approved for men whose bodies produce low or no testosterone that has become the subject of thousands of lawsuits.
Chicago-based AbbVie did not respond to a request for comment. It said previously that it faces 4,510 cases nationally related to AndroGel. The recent verdict came in one of a series of test trials over AndroGel aimed at helping both sides gauge the range of damages and define settlement options.
A federal jury in July awarded an Oregon man $150 million in punitive damages but awarded him no compensatory damages. A federal judge in December tossed the award and ordered a new trial.
A second jury in October ordered AbbVie to pay $140 million in punitive damages and $140,000 in compensatory damages in the case of a Tennessee man who claimed the drug caused him to suffer a heart attack. AbbVie is challenging that verdict.
The latest trial stemmed from a lawsuit filed in 2014 by Nolte, who suffered an embolism two months after he began using AndroGel, which he was prescribed for the off-label use of treating a drop in testosterone levels, according to court papers. Nolte said AbbVie fraudulently misrepresented the drug’s risk and misled patients by marketing AndroGel on television for off-label use.
AbbVie has said its marketing of AndroGel adhered strictly to uses approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and complied with applicable standards.