In late July, AbbVie Inc. was found by a federal jury in Chicago to have committed fraud in its marketing of the testosterone replacement therapy drug, AndroGel. In this first verdict in the multi-district litigation against the drug maker, Oregon plaintiff Jesse Mitchell was awarded $150 million in punitive damages after he suffered a heart attack while taking Androgel.
In Mitchell et al. v. AbbVie Inc. et al., case number 1:14-cv- 09178, the plaintiff’s legal team claimed that AbbVie fraudulently misled doctors and patients about the drug’s benefits and risks—in particular, cardiovascular risks—when marketing the drug. Mitchell is one of more than 4,000 plaintiffs who have brought suit against AbbVie. His litigation was held in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He was represented by Troy Rafferty of Levin Papantonio, Chris Seeger and David Buchanan of Seeger Weiss, Bill Robins of Robins Cloud, Stephanie O’Connor of Douglas & London, and David Diamond of Goldberg & Osborne.
David Buchanan, a member of the Mitchell trial team, commented, “For years before Jesse took AndroGel, AbbVie promoted unproven benefits and falsely assured doctors and patients about the safety of the drug. The consequences of those acts are serious and real—facts that weren’t lost on this jury.”