Jury awards $150 million in punitive damages in testosterone case

CHICAGO – Federal jurors in Chicago say the pharmaceutical company AbbVie should pay $150 million to an Oregon man for misrepresenting the risks of a low testosterone treatment.

The Chicago Tribune reported that the jury arrived at the figure for punitive damages after a three week trial stemming from Jesse Mitchell’s claims the AndroGel drug caused his heart attack in 2012 when he was just 49.

But jurors didn’t find the company was negligent or that AndroGel lacked appropriate warnings. An AbbVie spokeswoman said the company expected “the punitive damage award will not stand.”

AbbVie argued that Mitchell had smoked, had high blood pressure and had other risk factors that could have caused the heart attack.

Thousands of related lawsuits have been filed and Mitchell’s case was viewed as a bellwether.