Fortune 100 Company Faces Accountability for Manufacturing Disease to Drive Sales

DiCello Levitt takes AbbVie to trial for unwarned drug dangers and deceptive marketing.

The State of New Mexico engaged DiCello Levitt to pursue claims against AbbVie and its affiliates, alleging that the drug manufacturers, putting profits over safety, recklessly endangered the lives of New Mexico citizens with their marketing and sale of the testosterone replacement therapy drug AndroGel.

Defendants sought to vastly expand the population of potential AndroGel users through an aggressive direct-to-consumer marketing campaign targeting all middle-aged men. The marketing suggested, amongst other things, that feeling tired or less physically attracted to one’s partner were indications that a man had “Low T” and should pursue hormone replacement therapy through AndroGel. New Mexico accusses Defendants of attempting to “redefine the natural male aging process as a curable disease state,” marketing the drug to healthy men for whom it had no known efficacy, and willfully omitting the drug’s known cardiovascular risks. “It’s disappointing that world-renowned companies would lie to their own customers and prey on the insecurities of our aging population for their own financial gain,” said DiCello Levitt partner Adam Levitt. “Through this important lawsuit, we, on behalf of the State of New Mexico, seek to hold them accountable and to deter such conduct going forward.”

DiCello Levitt and the State defeated Defendants’ motion to dismiss, succeeded on multiple motions to compel, and, most recently, on January 6, 2022, defeated Defendants’ motion for summary judgment. DiCello Levitt will argue the State’s claims before a jury in Spring 2022.