Lawsuits filed against Abbott Laboratories and its spinoff company AbbVie Inc over the risks they supposedly hid of using the testosterone-replacement drug AndroGel has been combined in one Chicago court. This has been confirmed by a panel of judges yesterday in its decision to consolidate the cases lodged against the two companies. The panel reasoned the need to consolidate the cases as both of the companies are based in the Chicago area and that a significant number of lawsuits about its AndroGel drug are already pending before US District Judge Matthew Kennelly. Kennelly is expected to oversee pretrial information exchanges as part of the consolidation, Bloomberg said.
The decision to collect the cases against the AndroGel drug came after the US Food and Drug Administration has declared that it will re-examine the safety of the testosterone-replacement drugs following results from studies showing that they pose an increased risk of stroke and heart attack in patients.
Bloomberg said that the recent legal and regulation decisions would be a blow to the niche pharmaceutical market, as testosterone replacement drugs, which include AndroGel and Eli Lilly & Co's Axiron drug, is worth $1.6 billion annually.
Abbott spokesman Scott Stoffel said in an emailed statement, "Abbott separated its research-based pharmaceutical business into a new public biopharmaceutical company called AbbVie in January 2013. With the separation, the US commercial rights and associated responsibilities for AndroGel passed to AbbVie."
Spokesman Dirk Van Eeden for North Chicago, Illinois-based AbbVie had said that the decision of the court is supported by the company in the interest of efficiency and consistency.
Abbott and AbbVie have been charged of launching an $80 million marketing campaign in 2012 to promote the drug to aid patients to manage their condition known as Low T. The company's television ads had marketed AndroGel for men who have been complaining of low energy and lack of sexual drive, the plaintiffs said.
