At least 55 lawsuits accusing drugmakers Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly of failing to warn people about harsh side effects associated with their blockbuster diabetes and weight loss drugs Ozempic and Mounjaro will be centralized in a Pennsylvania federal court, according to an order issued on Friday.
Court records show that 55 lawsuits have been filed against the companies by people who say they were prescribed the drugs to treat their diabetes or to help with weight loss but weren’t warned about severe side effects including gastroparesis, or stomach paralysis, and intestinal obstruction.
The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation in its order agreed to send the cases to U.S. District Judge Gene E.K. Pratter in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, where 13 of the cases are currently pending.
The existing filings and any future lawsuits over the side effects will now be part of a multidistrict litigation, or MDL, which will allow Pratter to issue rulings and make decisions that apply to all the cases.
Novo Nordisk, which is facing the majority of the lawsuits, said in a statement it supports the creation of the MDL but believes the claims are without merit and intends to vigorously defend against them.
Eli Lilly, which is a defendant in a small proportion of the lawsuits, objected to being included in the MDL with Novo Nordisk.
Representatives for Lilly did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Advocates of MDLs say they allow the cases to be streamlined while preventing different judges from issuing conflicting rulings, while companies that have defended against MDLs say they can make it too easy for attorneys to file baseless lawsuits.
Paul Pennock of Morgan & Morgan, which has filed at least nine of the lawsuits and moved to establish the MDL, said in a statement that he was glad the panel had agreed that both companies should be part of the MDL. Pennock said he expects up to 10,000 cases will ultimately be filed in the litigation.
The lawsuits accuse the companies of failing to warn doctors about some harsh side effects associated with Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus and Eli Lilly’s Trulicity and Mounjaro, a class of drugs known as GLP-1 receptor agonists.
The companies have refuted the claims in court filings, arguing in motions to dismiss filed in one of the earliest cases that the side effects of the drugs are well known and printed on their labels.
In the ruling, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation said the drugs are similar enough that one MDL for the cases would make discovery and other proceedings more efficient.