MDL Judge Appoints Tepezza Injury Attorneys as Co-Lead Counsel, Executive Committee and Liaison Counsel

Small group of attorneys will serve in leadership positions in the Tepezza MDL, taking certain actions that benefit all plaintiffs pursuing lawsuits over hearing loss or ringing in the ears from Tepezza infusions.

The U.S. District Judge presiding over all Tepezza injury lawsuits filed throughout the federal court system has appointed a group of plaintiffs’ attorneys to various leadership positions in the litigation, who will take certain actions during the coordinated pretrial proceedings to benefit all individuals who experienced hearing loss or ringing in the ears due to side effects of the thyroid eye disease drug.

Tepezza (teprotumumab-trbw) is a new-generation biologic treatment introduced by Horizon Therapeutics in January 2020, as the first medication approved to treat thyroid eye disease or bulging eyes, which is caused by hyperthyroidism and linked to Graves’ disease, resulting in inflammation of eye muscles, eyelids, tear glands and fatty tissues behind the eye.

Although Tepezza infusions were originally intended as a niche treatment, with only a limited market, during the second year the drug was on the market in the United States sales doubled to $1.66 billion, and critics have expressed concern that Tepezza was aggressively marketed without adequately disclosing all of the potential risks.

Hundreds of former users are now coming forward to report that they experienced various forms of hearing loss side effects from Tepezza, including persistent ringing in the ears known as tinnitus, and complete hearing loss. In many cases, the problems persist long after the thyroid eye disease treatments, leaving users with irreversible hearing damage.

Given common questions of fact and law raised in complaints filed in federal courts nationwide, a Tepezza MDL (multidistrict litigation) was established earlier this month, centralizing the lawsuits before U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin in the Northern District of Illinois for coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

Shortly after the MDL was established, Tepezza lawyers filed a motion on June 12, proposing a slate of attorneys to serve in leadership positions in the Tepezza MDL. The unopposed motion calls for three attorneys to serve as co-lead counsel, one liaison counsel, and an eight-person executive committee.

In a docket entry (PDF) issued on June 28, following the initial status hearing for the Tepezza MDL this week, Judge Durkin approved the motion.

These Tepezza injury attorneys will work with the court to coordinate pretrial proceedings, including conducting discovery and depositions into common issues that impact all claims, arguing motions before the court and potentially negotiation Tepezza hearing loss settlements that could establish a framework to resolve all claims. However, each individual plaintiff will maintain their own lawyer to meet various deadlines and establish a link between their specific injuries and the thyroid eye disease drug, as well as negotiate any potential Tepezza lawsuit payout.

July 2023 Tepezza Lawsuit Update

Now that Tepezza lawyers have been appointed in the MDL, it is expected that Judge Durkin will establish an initial case management plan, which will allow the parties to move forward with discovery in to the link between Tepezza and hearing loss, and why the drug maker failed to warn about the potential risk.

As part of the litigation, it is expected that a “bellwether” program will be established, where a small group of representative cases will be selected to go through case-specific discovery in preparation for early trial dates, which will help the parties gauge how juries are likely to respond to certain evidence and testimony that will be repeated throughout various cases in the litigation.

Following coordinated discovery and trials in the MDL, if the parties fail to reach a Tepezza settlement agreement or other resolution for the litigation, each individual claim may later be remanded back to the U.S. District Court where it was originally filed for trial.

The next status conference in the Tepezza MDL is scheduled for July 31, and Judge Durkin has directed the parties to propose an agenda for topics to be discussed at least a week before the conference is held.